About the work

For the series the room underneath (2012) and As far as I can go (2012-2011), I have drawn from objects and images that are related to a personal and collective experience of the formative years and the process of institutionalization – the classroom, the gym hall, the bedroom, the swimming pool, etc.

Objects and images are transformed into form, while still being somehow recognizable. They are ‘like’ many others we have witnessed and experienced, and as such part of a shared social experience, even subliminally. Devoid of any specific context or narrative, the work allows for a counter-process in which additive meaning can be built through the viewers’ own memory, imagination and experiences. The works can be seen as examples, something that, quoting Italian philosopher Agamben, “ is neither particular nor universal, it is a singularity that in some way stand for all the others”

Formally, the distinction between painting and object becomes blurry. The works expand into the walls and floor so that the space around becomes somehow “objectified”. Scale, frontality and symmetry are employed to emphasize the physical presence (the “hereness”) of the work. There is playfulness in the use of color and even some humor, but there is also an undercurrent that aims to suggest a sense of loss,  and nostalgia.

In contrast, the oil paintings and drawings in af-ter-math (2012-2010) and  certain (shades) (2013-2012), and the photographic projects, while dealing with a similar subject matter, are darker in tone and more specific. These different approaches are meant to inform each other and create a dialogue within the wider body of work.