Curatorial notes
Editor: Kristoffer Zetterstrand’s "Consider It," painted in 2006 with oil and tempera, presents a bizarre scene. A skeleton levitates in an old building, a hand offers it a smoking chalice… It’s strangely haunting, yet peaceful. What do you see in this piece? Curator: This work immediately resonates with vanitas traditions. Think about the skeleton—a memento mori, a reminder of mortality, prominently displayed. It references how earthly concerns are fleeting compared to the inevitability of death. What do you make of the contrasting imagery surrounding it? Editor: Well, the skeleton hovers inside an archway; a dark forest scene sits in the other arch, plus there’s the smoking chalice. All point towards some sort of symbolic passing or change. Curator: Precisely! The archways may represent thresholds or passages. The tree…life…balanced by its contrast with the starkness of death, the forest perhaps referencing unknown realms. Smoke from the chalice invokes both ritual and ephemeral experience. How do these elements function together to affect the viewer? Editor: It’s like an invitation. A chance to contemplate life and death, maybe to reconsider my actions within this limited time. Curator: Zetterstrand presents the symbolic figure of Death but also provides contrasting motifs of life. This surreal scene perhaps encourages you to find continuity between different layers of reality. Does the scene conjure up any sense of familiar archetypes? Editor: The chess floor seems like it represents a playing field for strategies – even in death, we have to consider our next move? Overall, it's less terrifying and more thoughtful than I initially imagined. Curator: And within its visual language, it asks us to “consider it,” prompting deeper reflections on our existence. A powerful meditation realized through careful construction of symbols.