Erik Hårdstedt

Erik Hårdstedt works with drawing, collage, graphics, text and music, but watercolour is the medium he constantly returns to. His interest is in the technical aspects such as structure, different pigment qualities, the drying processes, the balance between precision and spontaneity, between abstraction and figuration. Erik is fascinated by the fleeting dreamlike, unpredictable questions and the fact that when working with watercolour the process is almost always beyond his control.

His practice requires perfect presence and focus and Erik Hårdstedt focuses best when he is relaxed. For Erik it's like tightrope walking, when his practice flows freely,

“I'm not a huge fan of isolating myself in my private studio for too long. I work better when I have people around me.”

Erik has touched upon many different subjects throughout his practice. Some that are closer to pop art, where he has mixed everyday mundane objects like food, electronics, album covers, business cards, religious art, packages and logos. Like a portrayal of his stream of ideas and thoughts rushing through his mind. During other periods in his career, portraits have been his main focus.

“I love the immediacy and honesty of watercolour. You can't hide your mistakes, you can only embed them and incorporate them and you can trace the history of the painting back to the start.”
While exploring his creativity, he keeps returning to nature and landscapes and that is what inspired his work with watercolour. this was initially as an avid plein air painter, documenting the changes of seasons and weather in the surroundings where he grew up, north of Borås, Sweden.
“If the weather allows I still prefer to bring all material and work in front of the motif outdoors”

Erik is currently working on a series of works from the village Uddebo in south west Sweden, where he had lived for the past 16 years. His focus has been on mundane details which usually don’t catch people's attention but are still familiar. Construction sites, mailboxes, the neighbour’s moldy caravan, the potholes in the road of a forgotten towel outside the public sauna. He is creating narratives where the local people in the village can see their everyday life reflected.

With this new series of works, his intention is to build bridges between these places, himself and the people living in Uddebo. He wishes to document those places in a more magical state, to create an alternative dream layer, a kind of filter that the paintings can function as. In order to select the motives, he searched for imperfections of deviations from the norm in nature or human made structures.

“I guess I need this change of scenery and different cultural input as a fuel to the creative process.”

Erik Hårdstedt has traveled a lot both in Africa, Latin America and Asia, but India is the place where has has spent the most time, and that has greatly impacted his imaginary world. He is currently working for the next few months from his outdoor studio, in the outskirts of Gokarna, a small town on the Indian west coast.’

We are delighted to represent the work of Guest Artist Erik Hårdstedt exclusively at the Nordic Art Agency. Currently a series of Erik Hårdstedt’s recent works from his artist residency can be seen as part of our International Group Exhibition until January 31st 2025.