Andreas Eriksson
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"Content is a glimpse #21"
Signed AE. Executed in 2008. Unique. Patinated bronze. Height 31.5 cm.
Provenance
Galleri Riis, Stockholm.
Bukowski Auktioner, Contemporary Hösten 2016, lot. no. 57.
Exhibitions
MUMOK (Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig), Wien, "Walking the Dog, Lying on the Sofa", 10 October 2008 - 11 January 2009.
Galleri Riis, Oslo, "Roundabout the hardship of believing", 5 March - 4 April 2009.
54 Biennale di Venezia, Venice, The Nordic Pavillion Andreas Eriksson and Fia Backström, 4 June 2011 – 27 November 2011.
Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, "Andreas Eriksson Roundabouts", 29 January - 23 March 2014. Touring to Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Norway, Centre PasquArt, Biel in Switzerland and Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland.
More information
The two bronze sculptures, Content is a glimpse #21 and Content is a glimpse #23, tell us so many things about Andreas Eriksson’s artistic practice – that Swedish nature is his main source of inspiration, that he is able to elevate tiny details and transform the quietness of the everyday into evocative art, that he moves between different forms of expression and materials with ease, and that the titles are a quote by the artist Willem de Kooning. Furthermore, the sculptures were included in his big breakthrough at the 2011 Venice Biennale.
The background to these sculptures is a rather sombre story. The windows in Eriksson’s studio sometimes confuse little birds with the result that they crash into the glass, break their necks and die. Instead Eriksson immortalises them by transforming their tiny bodies into bronze birds perched on branches, not unlike the branches that tap on his bedroom window at night. In 2011 Eriksson was selected to represent Sweden at the Nordic Pavilion in Venice, together with Fia Backström. There he chose to underline the interaction between the inside and the outside, nature and architecture, by allowing the existing large tree trunks at the centre of the pavilion to communicate with the large paintings and the small bronze sculptures of mole hills and dead birds that were arranged on the floor.
Since then Eriksson has been in constant demand for exhibitions both within and outside of Sweden.
His first solo show at a major institution was given the title Runt omkring [All around] and took place at Bonniers Konsthall in the spring of 2014. The exhibition attracted considerable critical acclaim and went on to tour Europe. Both of these sculptures came along for that entire journey. Like migrating birds they departed Sweden for Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Centre PasquArt, Switzerland, and the Reykjavik Art Museum. After several shows in Sweden and Europe, Eriksson debuted on the London art scene in 2013. His exhibition Coincidental Mapping at the prestigious Stephen Friedman Gallery was very well received and was followed up by a further show in the spring of 2016. His work was also shown at the Camden Art Centre in the summer of 2016, and in December 2016 he was represented by two galleries at Art Basel Miami.
Artist
Andreas Eriksson is a Swedish artist, born in 1975 in Lidköping. Eriksson studied at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm between 1993 and 1998, and works with various techniques in his artistic practice, including painting, photography, sculpture, textiles, and graphics.
A recurring theme in Andreas Eriksson's works is the presence of nature; the light over meadows, forests, and mountains is shaped into structures, blocks of color, and organic formations. Often, a motif emerges that can be interpreted as landscapes, shifting between figurative and abstract spatialities. However, Eriksson suggests that the rich and almost sculptural works can just as easily be seen as something other than interpretations of nature; as internal, diffuse landscapes where the viewer can linger.
After a period of work in Berlin, Andreas Eriksson now resides in Medelplana on Kinnekulle in Västergötland. In 2011, he represented Sweden at the Venice Biennale with Fia Backström. Eriksson is also represented at institutions such as the Gothenburg Museum of Art, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Nasher and David J. Haemseigger Collection of Contemporary Art in the USA, the Sara Hilden Art Museum in Finland, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. He became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in 2014.