Review: by Tommy Olsson , Klassekampen Newspaper 2020
“ The actual colours ”
“….Torild Stray's painting is first and foremost distinguished by some flexibility; it slips in and out of several established traditions without great friction, without actually making it possible to nail it to any of these. Then this is clearly its own thing (a separate thing). Though it might be possible to throw out some well known names that are more or less obvious visual relationships, it seems unnecessary and possibly counterproductive - rather, the actual reference points reside in the humming and buzzing everyday life.
The worn out light blue colour of the tram, the silver-gray haze that can lie in front of the royal castle and curb the bright Nepal yellow facade, beets in sunshine, green tea in a heavy cup on a dark kitchen, and a myriad other shades none of us otherwise wont particularly reflect upon until we meet them within the art institution. Bottom line is a technical skill of the kind one can only build up over time, and if one accepts that it swings quickly between abstraction and schooled rendition - sometimes within the same image - one senses the consequence in the opposites that have been used, from the dynamics of complementary colours to the tension between civilization and untouched nature…”
Review (Excerpts ) by Tommy Olsson , Klassekampen Newspaper, Oslo 2020
