My entrance into art was through painting. I have the most experience and skill in painting, but for this application, I stayed away from painting altogether. I also limited the element of color in the works. Lately, ideas haven't come to me in the form of images. In painting, I ended up in intricate, fantasy-filled works. Things that have happened in my life recently have led me away from that to what is more concrete and simple.
Simple. One idea = one work. Of course, there are variations: 'Pressade själar' can be seen as a variation on 'Två Höghus'. But I don't create for the sake of creating in a medium that is given as 'my medium,' instead the idea comes and questions about medium and material arise from it.
I don't see these works as conceptual art; the seed is not a well-thought-out concept, it's a fascination. Furthermore, the process is important. There is an element of craftsmanship in what I do. It feels important to learn the technique of the medium. The idea germinates during production. The original inkling blooms as the technical problems are resolved.
Inkling: you look at something and then it flutters - there's something there. To follow that inkling and keep it simple. A bellows in a second-hand store fascinated me - I make a bellows. I think of blueweed ('blåeld', lit. 'blue fire') and the sentimental shimmer that plant holds for me. Blue - ballpoint pen. Blue - gray - white. 'Blåeld' is perhaps the work where I actually composed by color. Stormy ballpoint drawings were what I did during one of the lowest periods in my life - an expressionistic noise without form. It seemed appropriate for a sentimental and mourning work.
Två Höghus
2024
2 st 60.5 x 7.0 x 9.0 cm
Balsa wood, plexiglass, machine screws, nuts, washers,
white wood stain, wood glue, brown spray paint.
I had the idea to carve a mass of figures, like the demons in a medieval painting. I needed to protect the fragile balsa wood and came up with the idea of squeezing it between two plexiglass sheets. This ended up looking like highrises, and gave the work other unforeseen connotations.
Blå Horn
2024
46.5 x 60.0 x 16.0 cm
Plywood, pine lath, glass wool (strip), reindeer horn from a second hand trophy,
machine screws, nuts, copper washers (self-made),
antique curtain rod knob, blue spray paint, orange spray paint, white gesso
Glass wool carries a lot of memories: dad renovating the house when I was a child. Security, insulation, protection. Soft and warm, yet threatening. Fiberglass, sharp dust. The horn is libidinal. Calcified life-force. The knob comes from curtain rods. Vintage, newly acquired. A romantic interest commented on my lack of curtains or blinds.
Blåsbälg
2024
240 x 160 x 50 cm
My old shoes from Knulp (leather), separated plywood layers,
hinges, screws (steel), screws (brass), copper sheet, cotton thread,
small nails, Sculpey polymer clay, gray acrylic paint
I saw a bellows at a thrift store and became fascinated by its construction. I wanted to build one myself. Bellows oxygenates fire. A lung pumping strength into life. It\'s not what burns, not the fuel - but what makes the flame burn clearly, to go from smoldering and smoking to an intense blaze.
Blå Eld
2024
60.5 x 76.5 x 3.5 cm
Plywood, pine lath, screws, white gesso,
drawing in blue ballpoint pen, Sculpey polymer clay, epoxy glue
My dad died on 17th of October 2023, completely unexpectedly, from a heart attack. Dead before the ambulance arrived. This work wasnt about him. It started with Blåeld. Summer meadow memories. Then the frame of memory fragments. Then it became about him. Memories sweet and puzzling. Opaque, seeming profound.
Pressade Själ
2024
3 st 15 x 13.5 x 7 cm
Balsa wood, tin, plexiglass, machine screws, nuts, steel washers,
copper washers, copper clippings, white stain, glue.
I was casting in tin and got hooked on the idea of letting the cast figures and the mold remain together, as one piece. I adapted the plexiglass casing from my Höghus, and then I had a piece that fascinated me. Beauty trapped, with traces of violence. Like small pressed flowers, like mounted butterflies.
Transformationstecken
2024
130 x 110 cm
Velvet, thread, eyelets
There's something heavenly about pastel velvet. Sewing isn't something I am good at. The motif of striving - and the butterfly, which is freedom, transformation, lightness, and beauty - it plays on the utopian material, and on the challenging process, which leaves traces of mistakes, and ardor.
Misslyckade Mynt
2024
9 pieces ranging from 2.9 cm radius x 0.3 cm thickness to 6.0 cm radius x 0.6 cm thickness
Sculpey polymer clay, conductive graphite spray,
copper coating via electrolysis with homemade copper acetate
(Cu(CH3COO)2 dissolved in vinegar), various byproducts from the process,
cast tin stained with copper acetate
I have an idea for an art-backed coin. A coin that is an IOU for a piece of art. I commit to create a work in exchange for this coin. How the coin would gain liquidity is a problem not yet solved. I tried casting and I tried electroplating. Results are not yet satisfying; experimentation is ongoing.