FANTASTIC FIGURES, 2021
My art works for Hjärtebacke preschool has its starting point in play, because it is in play, all creation begins. Exquisite Corpse is a drawing game most people have heard of. It was invented by the Surrealists in the 1920s and it is about a collaboration when you send drawings or written words between you, fold down the edge of the paper so that the next person does not see what it previously drawn or written, only where it ends, and continues on hers/his drawing. Unexpected evocative figures or sentences/poetry arise when the paper is unfolded. The Surrealists used this game as a method to elicit images and text from the subconscious and from dreams. I have chosen to call my works and this game Fantastic Figures.
The art works are inspired by the shape of the game and is based on putting together different seemingly odd parts together as a unit and create new unexpected characters and stories. Fantastic figures consist of three sculptures, a facade relief and an artist book. I want to encourage the children and the adults to use Fantastic Figures as a tool at the preschool to explore creativity, language and dreams and at the same time early awaken their interest in our nature and a will to protect it. My Art works are an introduction to The Water Realm in Kristianstad, Vattenriket, and the contents of its red-listed flora and fauna. Among the figures in the works Bechstein's bat, red-tailed hawk, dune wolf spider, crayfish, silver-spotted, hooded fly, southern lichen, apple roses and much more. I use an abstracted, figurative, narrative imagery together with patterns and shapes that refer in various ways to Skåne (south Swedens) animals and nature with influences from many different cultures and countries around the world.
Info
Location: Hjärtebacke pre school, Näsby, Kristianstad, Sweden
Client: Kristianstad kommun (municipality)
Material: Water and laser cut stainless steel, wet lacquered stainless steel, artist book. 3 sculptures height 150 cm, 1 wall relief.
Height 450 cm.
