Art Basel Hong Kong

For Art Basel Hong Kong 2022, Stephen Friedman Gallery presents new paintings and works on paper by Swedish artist Andreas Eriksson.

Eriksson has a fascination with the natural landscape and depicts his rural surroundings in Lidköping and Medelplana, Sweden. The exhibition explores his practice during and post-pandemic. The works on paper were produced whilst the artist was housebound with Covid-19, and through the use of watercolours, ink and pastels, Eriksson channelled ideas when it was not possible to work with paint on canvas. Six new paintings created as the world reopened reflect the artist’s distinct visual style.

Small events and phenomena from Eriksson’s everyday life and the natural world become the outset for the artist’s works, giving a firm context to his conceptual and metaphorical process. Hovering between abstraction and figuration and simultaneously familiar and mysterious, Eriksson’s meditative works create a window onto the outside world and can be interpreted as patchwork topographies or details of organic forms such as trees, earth, and rock formations.

Subtle earthy tones alternately merge and collide, and the artist employs translucent washes to reflect natural habitats. Vertical and horizontal shapes and brushstrokes echo nuances in the landscape. The emotional intensity with which Eriksson imbues his work is the result of his sustained exploration of the natural world. Works often appear quiet and understated yet belie a poetic quality.