Like filmmakers who build scenes around a particular palette of colours, so Andersson took colour as his cue in creating the series of paintings featured in this exhibition. Colour is the underlying hallmark of his oeuvre, whether purple, petrol blue, umber, ultramarine, or saturated pink. Once the palette is chosen, Andersson proceeds to plan the broad strokes of the composition, with the figures and objects taking shape one by one, like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle falling into place.
Perspective is distorted, depth is flattened, and human bodies are surrealistically twisted and elongated, appearing to become submerged in drapery borrowed from classical sculpture or religious icons. The distorted perspective is reminiscent of the enigmatic scenes painted by Giorgio de Chirico, and the warped figures resemble the mechanical distortion of glitch art or today’s ubiquitous AI-generated images. The artist says he is inspired by photographs in which long exposure times result in blurring and distortion of human anatomy.
The scenographic flatness of Andersson’s paintings endows his scenes with the appearance of stage sets. They are like frozen tableaux vivants: time stands still as the characters move about like chameleons in elegant interiors, melting into their surroundings and mysteriously evaporating as soon as they are subjected to closer scrutiny. This produces a dizzying effect, like an optical illusion or trick of the eye. Imbued in an atmosphere of understated elegance, Andersson’s paintings are fraught with unspoken tension – there is something mysterious and seductive about them that remains ineffable.
Although largely self-taught as an artist, Willem Andersson (b. 1980) has studied art and art history at various institutions. Spanning multiple media, his oeuvre is constantly evolving. He has exhibited in Stockholm and New York and his work is held in many major collections.
