Ekta is the moniker used by Daniel Götesson for a career now almost two decades long. Artist but also animator, illustrator, designer and muralist, Ekta has been able to challenge categories and definitions translating his personal artistic vision into most of the different languages of visual art and at the same time achieving in every and each field some of the most excellent and respected results in Europe’s recent history.
Götesson’s work is an endless string of variations, progressions, evolutions and involutions, a coherent incoherency of approaches and a recurring process of creation and destruction which evades and completes the contradictory ideas of perfection and failure at the same time. The production of the Swedish artist could be seen as a rhythmical and relentless fluctuation between two extremes. It’s in fact possible to find in his work a craving for boldness, bright colours and perfect composition just next to the desire for its complete destruction by means of thoughtful explorations of the unpleasant, of dirtiness and of the deliberately distasteful. It is in this contrast and the dynamic succession, overlaying and osmosis between these two clashing yet inseparable aspects of Ekta’s work, where is possible to find the origin of some of the most groundbreaking and influential abstract and figurative works of the last decade.
Driven by the need of moving on, of challenging materials, rules and aesthetics, Götesson has never lingered into easy choices or repetitions, but he’s allowed himself to always step on and place his practice into the world of the unexpected which is where an artist can find the best intuitions but also has to embrace uncountable failures. Engaging in a uniquely brave process of creation and destruction, of perfection and dread, Ekta does not search for a breakthrough, for a pleasing solution, a peak, because there is no need for a chorus on a melody which already finds its strength in such incredible uneasy balance and dynamic endless renewal.
No Chorus does not make exception to this paradigm. The show features mainly textile pieces, the latest turn on the Swedish artist’s production. The bright colours and clean cut of these works makes for some of the most designed and pleasant looking works in Ekta’s recent production. Their polished neatness is balanced by an abstract taste which defies simple choices and where the uneven lines find balance out of the least expected compositions. On the other side, juxtaposed to the fabrics, we find a selection of his most recent works on paper to bring a glimpse of the chaotic and unsteady battleground where the lines and shapes populating his textiles originate. No Chorus is the latest step on a path which never ends to astound, a precious chance to witness the work of one of the most unique artists in Europe right now or simply a new opportunity to be surprised by Ekta.
Daniel Götesson (Falkenberg, 1978), known as Ekta, is a Swedish artist, currently based in Gothenburg, Sweden. His works have been exhibited all over Europe, his work has been published in countless art—books and magazines such as The New York Times and Juxtapoz Magazine while his murals can be found across the continent in countries such as Italy, Croatia, Poland and England. Amongst other projects, Götesson has recently worked on several public art commissions of varying scale for various municipalities in Sweden and collaborated with some of the most respected fashion brands and projects as Marni, Converse and The Göteborg International Film Festival. No Chorus is Ekta’s first solo show with Nevven Gallery.
Ekta, No Chorus, Gothenburg: Nevven Editions, 2017 — Fanzine catalog