The Royal Institute of Art
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Integrating a Path
No full textAuthor's comments, or abstract – Integrating a Path is an essay in which I reflect on my artistic practice in the form of notes and diary-like reflections. I introduce how the accumulation of work (as artwork-ing, notetaking, and affective memories and sensations) can be structured through the concept of dead reckoning, and be used to navigate the complexities of the work in my studio. The notes in the essay deal with ideas such as the horizon, navigation, remembrance, Donald Winnicot's potential space, grounding, Amitav Ghosh's definition of recognition, and a first attempt at thinking about moths
Attention as Method
No full textIn this essay I reflect on my practice through the lens of attention, proposing it not only as a tool but as a methodology, attention as method. It engages both with conceptual references and my personal experiences, it explores how attentiveness shapes thinking, sensing, and making within a spatial and sculptural practice that stems from painting. The attention is not limited only to materials and processes, but also what is hidden, contingent, or unresolved. John Cage’s 4 '33 " that reframes silence not as absence but an invitation to listen has the ethos that resonates with what I explore in the text. Acts of failure, reconstruction and fragmentation become ways of working through and with uncertainty, allowing gestures and materials to guide the process. It continues to reflect on the changed conditions of public space, how objects function as quiet disruptors, the subtle control embedded in hostile architecture, and how worn, obscure, or used materials can be carriers of narratives and invite a sustained engagement. The text does not offer conclusions; it remains open-ended, focusing on process over outcome.
A Time for Everything : Repetition, Image construction & Time
No full textIn A Time For Everything, I explore three interwoven components central to my artistic practice: repetition, image construction, and time. The essay begins with a reflection on how ideas emerge—suddenly, like a storm—and how the notion of “a time for everything” becomes a grounding principle when navigating my artistic practice. Drawing on personal experiences in the studio, philosophical texts, and references to artists and writers such as Philip Guston, Francis Bacon, and Walter Benjamin, I examine how repetition functions both as a practical method and as a conceptual framework that shapes my process. I distinguish between mechanical and transformative forms of repetition and reflect on how recurring motifs evolve into new expressions over time. The essay also delves into how image construction, through format, framing, and scale, affects meaning and perception in my paintings. Throughout the essay, the concept of time is treated not only as a theme but as a material in itself: an invisible but necessary force that allows ideas to rest, grow, and transform. Ultimately, the essay positions my artistic practice as an ongoing dialogue between structure and uncertainty, where the challenge lies in remaining open to fantasy, enigma, and not knowing
A Beautiful place for ugly things
No full textThis essay examines the multifaceted role of fear as a catalyst for artistic practice and considers painting as a recording device of ambiguous perspectives—one that privileges the painter’s choices, rather than their intended message.
A place called home
No full textThis essay ponders on questions about belonging, identity, the search for a place called home and to live with a duality inside. It takes start in my adoption to Sweden in 1979 and follows the years to come where a strong urge to go back to Lima, Peru where it all began, arise. Through examples of two films (Paris, Texas and The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser - Every man for himself and God against all) I express how the power of the protagonists affected me and lead me to make art out of a strong feeling. I write about a performance act called “Adopted Branch” (Östermalmstorg) where I, dressed in all black leather clothes carry a naked branch across a square in central Stockholm. Along the way I also argue how the waiter figure in Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness has resemblance to my own life as I have worked as a waiter for over twenty years. That example has to do with the Peruvian/Swedish contradictions I carry inside. I’am what I look like I am but I’m also not what I look like.
Men(d)ing : A speculative archive on contemporary masculinity.
No full textIn the context of my artistic research and practice I am investigating the fields of masculinity studies, male culture, and masculine behavior. I recently came to realize how flawed and gaslighting the term toxic masculinity was. How it became synonymous with any type of wrongdoing conducted by men or associated with men's behavior. Which reminded me of how hysteria during a period was the most common diagnosis to explain women's behavior. While toxic masculinity appears as a moral judgment, hysteria was allegedly supported by a scientific community. They have in common to be both deliberately unsubstantial while delegitimizing an entire social group on the basis of their sex. To understand how these categories impact our culture, I’m proposing to look at masculinity as a site where race, class, sexuality, and nationality intersect. In the section Qualities of Touch i’ll introduce how touch as an ethical practice of care challenges heteronormative discourse about sexuality and gender identity. Further down the section Modes of intimacy invites us to look even further into the potential of intimacy as a disruptive tool, especially when it makes contact with current social issues. My background in dance and combat sport will provide insight in how masculinity is performed in context as such, and help us identify what differentiates them and what could possibly render them synonymous with each other. In combat sport vulnerability is concealed in order to ex-amplify the performance of strength and, de facto, dissimulate what can be perceived as weakness. Dance on the other hand could be read as a celebration of the erotic of strength, and an indulgence of the infinite possibility, fluidity, and plasticity of the body. From that stance, I will introduce a work in the making that extends these problematics through a durational group performance
Slem till svart galla till gul galla till blod till små bäckar från en skål till ett hål till ett rombformat fönster utan glas
No full textHöst Slem, Vinter Svart galla, Vår Gul galla, Sommar Blod Det här är en essä som letar efter en punk och luft men slår knut och söker istället till brunnen i vart själen finns. Under ett år växlar fyra årstider om vartannat. Dom har en varsin färg från varsin kroppsvätska efter ett färghjul. Det går runt, det går fort ett år.
Doing before Being
No full textThis essay is an investigation of how the relationship between a body and the process of creation can look like going back to painting. Through my own personal relationship of body memory, I question how decisions can lead to transformations in an attempt to understand my need of fluidity in an artistic practice and a place where I can avoid decision-making
Manual
No full textIn the form of a manual from an experience-based perspective, the essay explores painting as a process and the painter’s role within it. The text addresses themes such as presence and rest, the body in relation to painting, and time. Through advice and examples, it describes a fictional day in the studio from morning to evening. Quotes from other artists who reflect on their studio work is integrated with personal reflections.
En vacker plats åt det fula
No full textThis essay examines the multifaceted role of fear as a catalyst for artistic practice and considers painting as a recording device of ambiguous perspectives—one that privileges the painter’s choices, rather than their intended message