Off with your head

15.04 - 02.05 2023

Curated by Daniel EKTA Götesson
Wes Mapes, Leyman Lahcine, Jenny Palén Ejstes, Norberg/Sundén

This exhibition unites painting, sculpture and installation with emotionally charged works dealing with existential and surreal, the religious and mythological, the past and the present.

 

Wes Mapes (b.1982, Oakland, United States) is a mixed-media artist. He currently lives and works in Amsterdam.
By incorporating a multifaceted practice that unites painting, sculpture, installation, musical composition and performance, Mapes creates space-encompassing multipartite works that invite reflection and contemplation.His work draws inspiration from a vast pool of influences ranging from post-colonial theory, alternative history models, mathematics, vernacular building practices, modern architecture and Pan-African identity. Mapes has shown in solo and group shows. He holds a BA in Communication Studies from California State University, Long Beach and an MA in Art and Design from the Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam.

Jenny Palén Ejstes (b.1982 in Stockholm, Sweden) graduated from the Royal Art Institute in Stockholm 2015. Her work consists of installations, video, sculpture and painting. In recent years her practice has been focused on existential and surreal themes addressed through film, performance and scenography. She used to be a graffiti artist, which is evident in her drawing style with characteristic lines and distinct colours. Characters from images reappears in sculptural works and videos. Between 2006-2011 Jenny Palén co-founded and ran the independent art space Bastard Gallery in Stockholm. Her work has been showed at Fullersta Gård, National Gallery in Prague and Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Between 2016-2017 Palén has studied acting and is developing projects where art and theatre intertwine and is currently working with her second Short film Romas Ruiner which is expected to premiere in 2023.

Leyman Lahcine Artist, Born 1987 France from a north African family, lives and works in London. Lahcine has been creating an expansive body of work with unique and playful visual vocabulary, featuring bright colour, cartoon like imagery in a dark and melancholic mood. Through paintings, drawings and sculpture, he combines religious and mythologic reference with the idea of transgenerational trauma and emotional weights we carry. Lahcine’s figures and narrative consistently draw connection between the movements of his internal thoughts and everyday experiences, bringing about striking collisions of emotionally charge images.

Med ett intresse för hur estetik och form verkar i vår vardag för Åsa Norberg och Jennie Sundén en dialog med andra konstnärer, folkbildare, aktivister och forskares arbete och gärning. Det handlar ofta om berättelser där konst och liv vävs samman och där estetik tycks gå hand i hand med social förändring. Genom att kombinera olika tekniker, material, form och teori vill de aktivera historien och sätta idéer och uttryck i rörelse. Norberg och Sundén har visat sitt arbete på bland annat Malmö Konstmuseum, Moderna Museet, Lunds Konsthall, Kalmar Konstmuseum, Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art, Ekaterinburg, Borås Art Biennial, Tensta Konsthall, Marabouparken och Göteborgs Konsthall.