A space is not the absence of something but the presence of everything.

— Buddhism proverb

White contains the full spectrum of colour; a music score comprises both silence and musical notes; a clear mirror reflects objects, movement, and time — capturing the duality of existence. The notion of emptiness not only encompasses all but also expands in multi-dynamic forms — the mirrored space, the negative space, the space in between.

Swedish artist Ylva Carlgren delves deeply into the exploration of the void, redefining the nuances of the in-between spaces through her artistic expression. Her practice has the simplicity of using monotone watercolour and a repetitive brushstroke technique that serves as a simple yet profound method to narrate her journey through these spaces visually. Traditionally, a frame defines the space of an artwork; in Carlgren’s work, the multiple frames in a diptych or triptych might define a single space, or, a frame might contain another internal frame or space. Carlgren created experiences that expand the dynamics of a space externally and internally. One single colour and repeated motion, constructed a universe of immense possibilities. 

During the year-long preparation for Carlgren’s inaugural exhibition in China, she visited the historic capital of Beijing couple of times, in search of connections to her interest in emptiness and in-between spaces. Her research of traditional Chinese gardens and temple architecture revealed an Eastern philosophical understanding that resonated with her work: an empty space serves as a pathway leading to another space beyond. “I like the idea that the frame suggests there is something to look at, but in fact, there is nothing there.” says by Carlgren, “What is accentuated and enhanced is the emptiness.“ During her residency, Carlgren was also captivated by the traditional Chinese technique of ink rubbing, a space that is inverted but not directly mirrored — a technique that transforms an inscription into another artistic expression in which an inverted space narrated the same tale through a different journey.

In her new body of artworks, Carlgren invented a new technique by inverting the process. Instead of entering into a space of the white paper, she removes the vivid dark paint layer by layer. Whether we discovered a negative space or a mirrored space becomes irrelevant, because each space contains infinite possibilities. A large diptych In two / into (2024) perfectly captures the profound inversion within each panel as well as the unity of a pair. Amid the exhibition’s strong visual presence of mirrored expressions, a unique piece of hand-crafted folding screen stands on the empty gallery floor as a path into the void, to another universe. In this artwork, Carlgren applied the watercolour to a large surface, then the painted paper was trimmed, mounted and constructed into a folding screen through traditional Chinese craftsmanship. A work of art is an object as well as a pathway to the space of thought.