ARTIST STATEMENT

February 2025

My artistic practice has always been based on how mass media influence the thoughts and actions of modern people. For the past years I have mainly focused on media-based longings and tried to explore why we consume the way we do.

In my current series of works I investigate the beginning of consumer culture starting in the post WW2 period, in which the American consumer was urged to purchase more to get the economy going with the slogan "More, Newer, Better". This wave of consumerism grew steadily and the advertisement universe from the 1980's and 1990's shaped the consumer patterns and materialistic desires of my own generation.

My current oil paintings are inspired by old American magazine ads, because they represent the nostalgic feeling I grew up with where the disappearing lines between American ads, pop culture and products created a fantasy of the perfect life. A fantasy which still persists today.

In my previous works I have sometimes imitated the smooth and seductive yet flat advertisement universe in my compositions. However, right now contrasts are my main focus. By experementing with different representations of the same scenes and objects through various types of brush strokes, numbers of layers, the thickness of the paint, color choices, depth, the speed I work with etc, I try to express the contrast between the perfect still image of the ad and the movements and constant changes in real life. The different levels of completeness and sensuality in the paintings show the cycle of consumerism, where the offers of material solutions to emotional problems create an endless chain of new purchases and longings. By disrupting the purity of the perfect ads, I challenge the strong narrative and search for new meaning.

In 1962, an American oil company launched a campaign with the head line: "Each day Humble supplies enough energy to melt 7 million tons of glacier!". In my art I explore the tension between the past's idea of inconsequential consumerism leading to happiness and today's unmet Global Goals and climate crisis.

I want to challenge the American, capitalistic dream in a time where the US no longer represents the same kind of protector and role model for Europe as before. The scariest part of capitalism shows itself right now, where the financial elite in America holds the power and influence is based on wealth rather than skills. 

My new series is a mournful way to come to terms with my childhood's media-based dream world which turned out to be an illusion.