The long coastline that stretches cool along the blue East Sea has entered a gallery in Jongno, Seoul.



This is the solo exhibition 'Shoreline' by the Swedish artist Andreas Eriksson, who returned to Korea after 3 years.



In his first Asian solo exhibition in 2019, Ericsson presented works inspired by Korean mountains such as Seoraksan and Hallasan.



The idea for the 'Coastline' exhibition, which opened at Hakgojae Gallery in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 16th, started in Korea's Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).



While envisioning his second solo exhibition, Erikson became interested in the DMZ, a land of tension that separates North and South Korea, but still retains his natural appearance.



A land of nature that has not been visited by humans for over 70 years, a land that has no ownership and grows on its own.

This is why the writer got the DMZ in mind.



However, realizing that the DMZ can be interpreted politically, it is the East Coast where I stopped my eyes along the Military Demarcation Line that crossed the North and South Korea.



The artist explained, "I realized that the DMZ was too much of a political medium. I was worried that the painting might be covered by the subject." "After many searches, the coast of Korea, especially the East Sea, touched me."




In the masterpiece 'Coastline #1', which is 3m wide, the blue color at the top of the work is a metaphor for the color of the East Sea.

Beneath it, colorful colors and textures blend together.




The upper part of 'Coastline #2', a work of the same size hanging on the opposite wall, is painted in dark blue, and the night scenery of the East Coast comes to mind.



Although the East Coast is covered, it does not directly describe what the coastline looks like.

The work is reminiscent of a landscape viewed from the sky on a map, and the artist's work method of examining each region with a satellite map is melted as it is.



In this exhibition, which focuses on paintings and drawings, you can see a total of 58 works (14 on canvas, 44 on paper), ranging in size from large works that fill one wall to small items.




He was unable to visit Korea directly due to the spread of Omicron, and introduced this exhibition through a video message.


“For this exhibition in Seoul, I first made a paper drawing. This is a drawing I drew during the first quarantine due to the corona pandemic. It seems that the more I draw, the more the screen begins to resemble the shape of the coastline. It is a story about the meeting of different media, such as the meeting of water and cliff, or soil and sand."



"Traveling Korea on Google Maps, I felt that I was closely connected to the East Coast. I kept that in mind when I was drawing my paintings."


It is the background from which a picture that reminds you of contour lines on a map was born.



Erikson, who suffered from electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome around 2000, lives in the mountains near Medelplana, Sweden, and uses his own sense to unravel the nature he has encountered for decades in his works.



Park Mi-ran, head of Hakgo-jae's office, said, "Artist Andreas embodied the theme of 'coastline' in the form of color. It would be good to focus on this aspect because he has been doing this work as interest in the environment and nature has increased during the pandemic." said.



'Andreas Ericsson: The Coastline' will be on display at Hakgojae and online Hakgojae Orum until March 20.



This is a 'news pick'.


<About the author> 



Andreas Erickson.

Born 1975 in Björsetter, Sweden.

He moved to Berlin after graduating from the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, Stockholm, in 1998.

He immersed himself in his work by interacting with various artists, but around 2000 he returned to work with electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome, living and working in the Sinekule Mountains near Medelplana, Sweden.

In 2011, he received attention by being selected as the representative artist of the Nordic Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale.