Lars Nyberg
, Swedish, b.1956
Title
Empty House Outside ClifdenDate1994
MediumDrypoint on paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 28 × 38.5 cm
Plate: 12.5 × 18.8 cm
Signedcentre right: Lars Nyberg
Credit LinePresented, 2023
Object numberNGI.2023.67
DescriptionThese prints illustrate Lars Nyberg’s skill as a printmaker, sensitive approach to his subject matter and meticulous use of the drypoint technique. In his own words: ‘To feel and hear the steel needle travelling in the copperplate is meditative music for me. There is something unpredictable in working with drypoint, the inscribed lines live their own lives in the copper.’ Nyberg's drypoints depict a variety of subjects: street scenes, winter trees and abstract architectural features. The different subjects are rendered through the artist’s pared-back style and are infused with silence, emptiness and calm. Negative space and the paper itself are important aspects of the compositions. The Dublin images were made while the artist was working at Graphic Studio Dublin’s Green Street premises in the 1990s. Ten depict the Dublin docklands (mainly Grand Canal and Spencer Dock) before and during its redevelopment. Eleven record parts of inner city Dublin including buildings in Parnell Street, Gardiner Street and Mountjoy Square. Five of the prints depict wintry trees and paths in rural Mayo and were made during a residency at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation near Ballycastle, Co. Mayo.An abandoned house beside the road just outside Clifden. White walls and years of soot. A tired house. An abandoned building of beauty and great sorrow.
Inscriptioncentre right: Lars Nyberg
lower right: Empty House in Clifden