Artist statement & Bio

Artist statement

I paint anthropomorphic animals (= animals given human characteristics) as individuals in their own right. Our extremely human-centered view of the world fascinates me. If animals could express their opinions about us, would we dare to listen? The Forgotten Fables started with the question “What happens to the characters in a book that no one reads anymore?”, and has evolved into an exploration of identity and our relationship to animals and nature.

My art can be described as representational and narrative with elements of magical realism. It is probably a consequence of growing up in Sweden, where the scenic nature is filled with gnomes, trolls and vaesen (at least according to my beloved children’s books by Bauer and Beskow), something that has given me an unwavering feeling that all of existence is animated.

Aesthetically, I have a weakness for aged things that bear traces of both use and the wear and tear of time. By utilizing the back of old oil paintings for my animal portraits, without damaging the original painting, I question of how we relate to the earth’s finite resources as well as our history.

Maybe all I’m doing is just a damn complicated way of saying “Tread lightly on Earth.”