Opening Monday 16/6 at: 1:00 PM 2025
Works by Avesta Art artist in residence Amanda Karlsson
A little god
In her artistic practice, Amanda Karlsson (b. 1989, Karlstad) uses oil paint and works with wood in both two- and three-dimensional forms. She constructs scenographies and stages events, which she then documents and recreates in installations and paintings. Karlsson weaves narratives parallel to our own, which provokes reflection on the human quest for understanding and the interplay between truth and fiction.
A little god - to be subject to time is based on a quote from Marlen Haushofer's book The Wall. In the sci-fi classic, the narrator is isolated behind an invisible wall in an alpine landscape and has to fend for herself in a spartan cabin. Eventually, her last clock stops working and she sees herself as free from the bondage of time.
In today's secular society, we don't submit much, but perhaps time is the closest we come to an objective common god. A common way to handle worship is to give it form and that is what A Little God symbolizes. It is a human dressed in a dog costume who plays the role of the little god and with his existence creates a place where we can meet him in our smallness and encourage our own submission. The god has been given the form of a dog, which according to mythology symbolizes loyalty and protection, but also partly because we are currently going through a few dog years with conflicts, wars, economic uncertainty and climate threats. The big dog is intended to reflect our threatening and uncertain times but also the security in the inevitable passage of time.
The work is pleased to present this year's Avesta Art artist in residence Amanda Karlsson. In her work, she explores the complexities of being human and how a fictional space can function as a stage for our need for intelligibility.
Justification:
Drawing from an upbringing in the deep forests of Värmland surrounded by working-class and mythological storytelling, this year's artist-in-residence creates scenography for a fictional reality. In oil painting on flat, shaped wood, the images are transformed into three-dimensional sculptures where she offers us new stories and comprehensibility in a changing contemporary world.
We warmly welcome Amanda Karlsson to the Work for Avesta Art residency 2025!
Amanda Karlsson's sculptural paintings are both direct and general in their appeal, while at the same time there are layers of narrative and subtlety within them. Says Charlotte Wells, operations manager, museum director and curator at Verket.
The allure of getting very close but never being completely let into Amanda Karlsson's fictional world challenges the viewer's imagination and awakens their own associations, says Ann Björklund, museum educator.
During her stay, Amanda Karlsson will create a large-scale three-dimensional oil painting that will be exhibited during the Avesta Art season after the residency.
Solo exhibitions (selected)
2024, Lice Festival, Trollhättan Art Gallery
2023, The Leech Party, Värmland Museum, Karlstad
2023, Vargfabriken 2.0, Vattentornet art gallery, Säffle
2023, Scholarship Exhibition, Kristinehamn Art Museum
2022, The Wolf Factory, Ebeling Museum, Eskilstuna
2020, Things that happen, Galleri Ekdahl, Karlstad
2020, Beacon, Galleri Helle Knudsen, Stockholm
2019, Here be dragons, The Contemporary Garage OpenArt, Örebro
2019, The Great Worry, Flaménska Gallery, Borås
2018, What Are You Looking For? Arvika Konsthall, Arvika
2016, We Are the Herd Animals, Galleri Helle Knudsen, Stockholm
2016, Stand still, stay silent. It will all be over soon, Galleri Lars Hjelm, Karlstad
2014, I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you, Gallery K, Karlstad
2013, Ultimate Existence, Gallery Ori, Berlin
Group exhibitions (selected)
2025, Spring Salon, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm
2024, Market Art Fair, Galleri Helle Knudsen, Stockholm
2024, Spring Salon, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm
2023, Humanity, Nora Art, The Brewery, Nora
2023, The Life And Death of the WWW, Galleri54, Gothenburg
2022, Mail show, Do androids dream of electric sheep
2022, Between Belonging and Breakup: Tracing Bubbles, Kulturhuset Bergsjön, Gothenburg
2022, Autumn Salon, Värmland Museum, Karlstad
2022, Portrait of a place, Not quite, Fengersfors
2020, Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg – with Lukas Comix, Daniela Bergschneider, Emanuel Bylund
2020, You and what army, installation for Ståhl Collection – contemporary art museum,
Norrkoping
2019, Threesome, 19 Karen Gallery, Australia
2019, Finalist Exhibition, Kiruna Scholarship, Kiruna
2016, Värmland Art Association's Autumn Salon, Rackstad Museum, Arvika – Youth Scholarship
2016, Spring exhibition, Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg
2015, OpenArt art biennial, Örebro
2013, Crossing Borders, SOMArts, San Francisco
2013, Macht Kunst, Deutsche kunsthalle, Berlin
2012, Empty rooms, Old Slaughterhouse, Kil
2011, A Collective Monologue, Gallery Femman, Norrköping
Public representation
2024, A herd of wild horses, Kristinegränd VåBo, Borås municipality
2022, Lodet, Mural, Ulricehamn Municipality
2022, A Kingdom for, Cycles and Water/ Add Color, Gothenburg
2021, Living Archive, Rimbo Cultural Stage, Norrtälje
2021, Mural, Higab/Put color on, Gothenburg
2020, Borderland, installation, Falköping
2019, Mural, Swedish Transport Administration, Gothenburg
2018, Ritz Cultural Center, Arvika
2018, Westcoastwalls, Halmstad
2018, Worthless Knights, commissioned by Wermlands invest and Karlstad el- och stadsnät
Scholarships
2023, One-year working scholarship, Artists' Council
2023, Kristinehamn Art Museum scholarship
2022, Brother Marklund Scholarship
2021, Ståhl Collection scholarship
2020, Johan Ahlbäck Foundation, Residency Scholarship – young artist depicts working-class culture
2018, Building Culture Scholarship
2016, Värmland Art Association, youth scholarship
2015, Dare to See Art Club
2015, A Quick Coin, City of Gothenburg
2011, Liljesonska Scholarship
AIR – Artist in residence
2015, Saga Fest artist in residence, Iceland
2014, Artigiana Art Residence, Sicily
2014, Lurö, Värmland Art Association
Represented
Most regions and municipalities in Sweden Ståhl Collection, Norrköping
Membership
2024, SKF
2016, KRO
2015, Artists' Center-West
2012, Värmland Artists' Association
Education
2020, Individual project work 1, HDK-Valand 2009-2011, Lunnevads Folk High School, Art Department
Publications
2022, Between Affinity and Rupture: Tracing Bubbles, arvinius+orfeus publishing
2019, Sci-Fi is for real, Niklas Wallenborg, Independent zine
AVESTA ART RESIDENCE
The residency offers working artists a work stay in an inspiring mill environment in the scenic southern Dalarna. The artist in residence is given creative freedom to explore and deepen their own artistry in the encounter with the ironworks environment.
The purpose of Avesta Art residence is to strengthen professional art scene in Dalarna and to enrich and develop a fruitful companionship with Avesta Art and Verket.
Avesta Art residency is implemented with funds from the Dalarna Region.
Previous residency artists.
2024 Sebastian Poras Adolfsson.
2023 Love Antell
With the support of
