Overview
2019
Filler on board, oak frame
Unique Work
Dimensions: 84cm (H) x 64cm (W) x 5cm (D) / 33.1" (H) x 25.2" (W) x 2" (D)
Note: Actual colours may vary due to photography & computer settings.
Artist Statement
It is 80 paper cup imprints on the surface. The number refers to the sudden hike of onion prices in India from 25 to 80 rupees in the fall of 2019, that ignited a lot of protests. They work is about the cost of living and neoliberal policies. Our dependence on material circumstances is our most basic condition, and the struggle for a fair distribution of economic resources might be the one with most subversive potential.
Paper Cups a series of paintings with imprints from regular paper cups. The kind you get from fast food places, and the kind that often is used by people begging in the streets. The series is about the disparity of economic resources.
Begging, an expression of the most precarious vulnerability is man’s most profound condition. We need others to exist. It is a gesture that expresses the truth about our position. Entirely subject to a potentially indifferent world. Begging tells something about money. We have an economic relationship with reality. We are endlessly exposed to the contingency of life, and to those who embrace the raw power of injustice. Begging, and giving without compensation and conditions, is a subversive act. A protest and an act of resistance, showing that another world is possible.
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Artist Profile
Born: 1969
Hometown: Stockholm
Based in: Oslo
I am interested in process-based painting and the profound human solitude. While exploring one thing, I sometimes try to formulate something about the other.
My work is made from construction filler in oak frames. I have developed a unique technique, where I insert 6 mm thick layers of grey and white filler into the frame like intarsia, instead of on top of each other as in conventional painting. The result gives a graphic expression that at the same time has tactile materiality. I use some simple but clearly defined methods to apply the filler in the frame. These limit the expression of cognitively controlled processes, thus opening an opportunity to reveal something unknown.
They often take the form of series or installations that extend into the room.
I base my work on the notion of a primary alienation in the human subject. By using painting, I want to formulate something around this lack, or the desire, integrated into our perception of reality. I want to explore whether the problem can illuminate other forms of social and cultural alienation—for example, privileges, class, racism and xenophobia. In short, different types of distances between people.
I have previously shown works in Scandinavia at Konsthallen Trollhättan, Konsthallen Lokstallet, Konstepidemin, Kristiansands Konsthall, Akershus Kunstsenter, Trondheim Senter for Samtidskunst och Tenthaus Oslo. I am educated in Norway at Kunstakademiet in Trondheim and live and work in Oslo.
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