From paint puddles to melting ice
Since Anders Edström's accidental ascent into the fashion industry, fuelled by his collaboration with Maison Margiela, he has been applauded for his naturalistic approach and resulting uncontrived photographs. His latest volume of work, while a change of direction subject-wise, is no exception.
Published by Antenne Books, Loops focuses on the simple sights we consume day-to-day but don’t always pay attention to. “The fashion images I take are different because they are assignments,” Edström explains. “The pictures in Loops are taken for no real reason.” Instead of capturing the extravagance of couture, he hones in on life’s simplicities to capture moments when the light and the moment synthesise: melting ice, autumn turning to winter, puddles drying.
Edström credits light with a large part of the success of his photographs – it is often what makes the slow moments in life worth documenting. But his work is better read as a whole, rather than in separate parts. “Many pictures I take because I think they might work as transitions between images in a sequence,” Edström says. “The sequence is more important to me than the individual picture.”
As art critic Jeff Rian, who worked with Edström at Purple magazine, says of the photographer, “His photographs were never flashy, graphic, geometric, sexy, or shocking. Yet he was always able to capture the essence or singularity of things in themselves.” He continues, “I’ve often felt he focused as much on the atmosphere of light as the phenomena caught in his lens. The best photographers do that.”
An exhibition of Edström's work, Spreads, will run at Stockholm's Fullersta Gård from February 16 – March 31. Loops is available via Artenne Books' website