My drives
I'm a visual artist, working primarily with drawing. In my work I'm interested in the ways in which images and words are able to express, question, or confuse the meaning of things.
My subjects
The last years my interest has specifically focused on architecture and sculpture. Part of that fascination is about the fun of experimenting with 3D structures, and about translating all the fantastic art and architecture I see around me into a personal visual language. On the other hand, I also like to study how the way we design our environment is an expression of the identity we want it to have. Architecture, as such, isn't merely a matter of visual make-up of a functional structure, it also tells us who we are.
NON-FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURES
I draw objects in the same way as Carl Linnaeus classified plants. I collect all kinds of structures, identify their characteristics and translate them into drawings. For me, these structures are like creatures, all living in an architectural biotope. I study and order them in a taxonomy called Non-Functional Structures. This biotope is not like "the real world" though. I enjoy obscuring what the structures are, creating species such as ambiguous, playful and subversive structures. My goal, as such, is to render architecture useless, in order to open it for alternative and speculative interpretations. The question that intruigues me is: What is the potential and value of architecture, when it is no longer functional?
Find out more about Non-Functional Structures here.
INSPIRATION
I'm inspired by a very wide selection of art and architecture. This can range from neo-classicism, modernism or postmodernism, science-fiction art (for example in movies or games) to the building blocks of my daughter.
Modernist architecture is a subject that returns in much of my work. I enjoy the simplicity of it, but also I'm also fascinated by the incredible ideological weight of it. Many modernist architects weren't interested in merely designing buildings, they wanted to design society, or even design life; architecture, in that sense, simply was their weapon of choice.
The drawing on the left has been inspired by the Lovell Health House, designed by Richard Neutra
SQUID
I have often collaborated with other artists on long-term projects. One of them is SQUID , a project that I ran, together with the artists Katja Aglert and Janna Holmstedt, from 2007 until 2014.
SQUID is an online archive of texts written by professionals from the cultural field, but also a framework we use for offline activities such as public readings, artists presentations and discussions. We continuously invite artists, musicians, writers, amongst others, to write in relation to the engagement and driving forces that run through, or parallel to their own work.
With SQUID we have carried out a great number of public activities, and participated in several exhibitions, among which Plattform at Röda Sten in Gothenburg and Labyrinth 09, at Botkyrka Konsthall, Stockholm.
IT'S BETTER TO BUILD THAN TO FADE AWAY
Another collaboration I'm particularly proud of, is with Oskar Lindström, with whom I worked on the project it's better to build than to fade away. From 2002 until 2007 we have carried out various projects in, or about, public space. We have put forward issues such as commercialization of public space and gentrification.
It’s better to build than to fade away has been carried out several times in public space –Helsinki, Porto, Moss. We have participated in several exhibitions, among which The Nordic Biennale, Momentum and More than this, which toured museums Finland, Sweden and Norway. Find out more about the project here.
EDUCATION
I started my educational career at Willem de Kooning Academy, in Rotterdam, in 1997. I received two BFA degrees at WdKA, in Fine Art (2001) and Art Education (2006).
From 2009 until 2011 I studied at Valand Academy in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the masters programme C:ART. At Valand I received a MFA, with a specialisation in digital media. On the right I'm taking a photograph in Skåne, Sweden, together with Barrie James Sutcliffe (he made the photo on the right), for the project This land is a land and a land and a land.
