MALMO.- Tilpo is the common pseudonym for the painter Hans Eriksson and the set designer Hanna Aihonen. Together, the artist couple create stories that open up new ways of looking at the world. Their imaginative paintings turn the familiar inside out and tear up boundaries between reality and visions. With few exceptions, the works in this exhibition are from the last few years, and some are brand new. During the first weekend of the exhibition, Tilpo will also create a large painting on site in the museum before a live audience.

Hans Eriksson studied at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm from 1981 through 1986, and for decades he has been regarded as an artist’s artist. Hanna Aihonen Eriksson has extensive experience of work in the theatre world and acts as a co-creator in these paintings. Their work together on this exhibition and on other artistic projects is part of a collaboration that has been going on for twenty years.

In their paintings, the artist duo invites us into imaginative, astonishing, and tumultuous visual worlds where logic has either partially or entirely ceased to function. Anything can happen — we are only limited by our imaginations. In these evocative and brilliantly painted pictures, there is gravity and darkness, but also glimmers of light and a humorous view of the world we human beings create and inhabit. It is up to us, the viewers, to ponder what it is we’re actually looking at.

Tilpo’s pictures are ambiguous and multi-layered. They shed light on the world we live in, and they pose questions and thematize complex contexts. In these turbulent times, their work feels more relevant than ever.

Over the years, Tilpo has shown their work in both solo and group exhibitions in Sweden, Finland, South Africa, and several other countries. Best Wishes from Us is their first solo exhibition at Moderna Museet. The artist duo has three works in Moderna Museet’s permanent collection and others in a number of Swedish and Finish museum collections.

PER WIZÉN – UNDERCURRENTS
April 30–September 25, 2022
Curator: Iris Müller-Westermann

In this exhibition, Moderna Museet Malmö presents new works by Per Wizén (b. 1966). The pieces were created in the wake of a journey back into the artist's own childhood that was set off by his discovery of some long-forgotten Disneyland magazines from the 1970s in an attic.

Through the lens of popular cultural images, Wizén invites us into some colorful fantasies based on Disney´s versions of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. The two characters have in common that they confront worlds that lie beyond the known, the illuminated, the rational – worlds of opportunity but also of darkness. As always in Wizén's complex artistry, these new works are intimately linked with earlier ones, delving deeper into certain themes.

The large-scale photographs are based on collages made up of tens of thousands of image fragments or pieces arranged by the artist in an extremely complex and time-consuming processes. New worlds are created based on existing images. Adventure stories and a return to his own childhood form layers in these new works, but beneath the innocent and playful surfaces lurks something disconcerting.

Wizén's working method relies on a strict set of self-imposed rules, precision, and great patience. In the course of working with his collages, Wizén keeps the whole of the new picture in mind while simultaneously concentrating on the details. The process may be compared to deep meditations that open the door for something unexpected and dark to emerge – something the intellect cannot grasp. It is there beyond the words that the artist's world and the viewer's world meet.

Per Wizén lives and works in Malmö. His work has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions in Sweden, Finland, the United States, and several other countries. Undercurrents is Per Wizén’s first solo show at Moderna Museet. Works by the artist are included in the collections of a number of Swedish and international museums.