ARTIST’S STATEMENT
My work is at the core about the human condition, existence, and the futile. During recent years the climate crisis has come to affect me and my work. As a result, the theme of the Apocalypse has become a framework, my art pieces being “my visions” presented on a large confrontational scale; natural disasters brought on by climate change (wildfire, landslides, flood and draught), bad omens (blood rain, eclipse, dead butterflies) and consequences (people running for their life, sex as escapism, desperate love). I present my visions as glimpses of scenes to allow the spectators to create their narrative. Some of my art pieces might appear to be abstract when seen at a distance or in a small digital format. But upon closer inspection or experienced in reality, figurative elements are discovered.
The majority of my work is made in series, meant to complement each other or together create a bigger experience or installation. As I want the spectator to be submerged in my art, I work in a big format and often with spatiality to create a world to enter, an immersive experience. By creating art pieces specifically for the location and space - using the floor, the special light conditions and involving objects, etc - the art takes over the gallery space.
My big works on paper and textiles might at first glance look like paintings, but are created by using screen printing techniques in an unorthodox and experimental way. My work method means combining hand-drawn and painted originals with cut paper masks and painting with inks directly in the screens while printing. At the same time, I work in big sizes to make the process much more physical and consequently visible in the final art piece. I want the form to reflect the content; materiality and traces of the process here helping to embody it.
More of Alexandra Hedberg’s work may be appreciated online on her website, and Instagram account.