Frieze Los Angeles

Stephen Friedman Gallery presents a new body of work by Swedish artist Andreas Eriksson for Frieze LA.

Eriksson’s first US solo presentation comprises paintings and tapestries, and reflects the artist’s ongoing fascination with the natural landscape. Inspired by his rural surroundings in Lidköping and Medelplana, Sweden, Eriksson creates meditative works that provide a window to the outside world.

Hovering between abstraction and figuration and simultaneously recognisable and mysterious, nature is constant in Eriksson’s process. His works can be interpreted as patchwork topographies or details of organic forms such as trees, earth and rock formations. Vertical and horizontal shapes echo nuances in the landscape; subtle earthy tones and vibrant shades of blue, green and yellow alternately merge and collide.

Eriksson’s ‘Cutouts’ are made of fragments of paintings that he has repurposed and to which he has given a new lease of life. The artist takes sections of paintings that retain his interest over months or years in the studio and creates new works with them. These ethereally beautiful multipaneled paintings reflect an ever-changing fragmented landscape. 

New handwoven tapestries are rendered in largely subtle hues of yarn. The artist sources the linen from multiple sites in Sweden, linking each piece to a specific geographical location. In these tapestries, Eriksson features dominant black patches that reference a previous painting he made; the artist is continually inspired by revisiting older works to create something new. Appearing quiet and understated, Eriksson’s paintings and tapestries belie a poetic quality and an emotional intensity.

Andreas Eriksson

Andreas Eriksson was born in 1975 in Björsäter, Sweden. He lives and works in Medelplana on the south bank of Lake Vänern, Sweden 

A significant monograph on the artist’s practice was released by Sveriges Allmänna Konstförening in December 2021, accompanied by an exhibition at Galleri Flach, Stockholm. A major solo presentation of Eriksson’s work opened at Skissernas Museum, Lund in June 2021. The artist had an exhibition of watercolours, drawings and tapestries at Nordic Watercolour Museum, Tjörn in September 2020. Eriksson was commissioned to create a public painting for the main entrance of New Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm in 2017. His work was exhibited at the 30th São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo (2012) and The Nordic Pavilion, 54^th Venice Biennale in 2011.

Other notable solo exhibitions include: ‘Andreas Eriksson’, Artspace de 11 Linjen Griet Dupont Foundation, Oudenburg, Belgium (2021); ‘Cutouts, Mistakes and Threads’, Braunsfelder Family Collection, Cologne, Germany (2019); ‘Work in Progress’, Skissernas Museum, Lund, Sweden (2017); ‘Roundabouts’, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden which toured to Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Trondheim, Norway; Centre PasquArt, Biel, Switzerland and Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland (2014–2015). ‘Roundabout the hardship of believing’ and ‘Walking the Dog, Lying on the Sofa,’ MUMOK, Vienna, Austria (2008). 

Eriksson’s works are included in prominent collections internationally including Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; FRAC, Auvergne, France; MUMOK, Vienna, Austria; Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway; Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenberg, Sweden; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Skövde Art Museum, Skövde, Sweden; National Public Art Council, Sweden; Sundsvall Museum, Sundsvall, Sweden; Uppsala Art Museum, Uppsala, Sweden and X Museum, Beijing, China.