Staffan Tolsen

Painter, Stockholm, Sweden

Staffan Tolsén is a soulful wrestler and in the large and determined sweeping brush strokes there is a lifeblood that is his own lifeline that tows him back to the self before the boundaries are blown up. There is a kinship with some of the German expressionists, sometimes a taste of Emil Nolde or Ernst Kirchner emerges in the distorted forms and the luminous colors evoke strong emotional impressions as an echo of Nietzsche’s philosophical tones. As observers, we sometimes become silent witnesses to his quest for reconciliation with the incomprehensibility of life. The collective symbolic language is there that we all intuitively understand, such as the motif of the boat on the open solitary sea. But the power of the images stretches all the question marks. Staffan thus demonstrates a personal conviction and a faith that he possesses and that he generously wants to share with the rest of us. /Therese Holmgren, Gothenburg Art Association