Erik Sigerud is a Swedish visual artist, born in Borlänge, Sweden, in 1977. He works and lives in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sigerud studied for five years at the Beaux-Arts de Paris. That is the National School of Art in Paris. And, he graduated in 2004 with the Diplôme national supérieur d’arts plastiques (Dnsap), which is equal to a Master of Fine Arts (MFA).
Sigerud mixes figuration with a non-figurative painting in several layers. Also, his painting depicts places, people, and abstract fragments in dystopian scenes. They represent the culture in which the artist lives. As well as the normative man in this culture. With his painting, Sigerud explores how culture and people create each other. He connects social interactions with world trends. And, the relationship between politics and emotions.
To Sigerud, painting is a tool for reflection. With his paintings, Sigerud explores the link between understanding culture and identity. A theme of his work is an exploration of the synergy between linguistic descriptions and pictorial representations. Also, he works on abstract problems, such as the difference between reality and appearance. A goal is to paint embodied thinking that can reach out and create meaning from within. And to do this with symbols that make the spectator active. Sigerud wishes to create a painting that can communicate a view of a cultural tendency. Regardless of what the viewer knows about the artist and the context surrounding the painting.
Sigerud’s drive stems from the need to make existence tangible. He paints cracks between collective stories and subjective perception. To understand ourselves and manage the world, Sigerud believes we create mental images. When we meet alternative places, fresh stories, and new people, we rebuild these images. Therefore, his paintings are wordless mental images. And, these deal with his fear of fascism and climate change. Sigerud asks what emotions contribute to mental and collective images and political change. Also, he wonders how mental and collective images create each other.
Erik Sigerud is an artist who has made many solo and group exhibitions in Sweden and abroad. Also, he has received many awards and is represented in private and public collections. For example, in the collections of the Swedish state, Tyresö and Uppsala Konstmuseum.
