Gunilla Klingberg Wheel of Everyday Life
31 JANUARY 2013 - 17 MARCH 2013
In her work, Swedish artist Gunilla Klingberg explores her interests in everyday consumerism and forms of Eastern spirituality. To do this she covers architectural spaces with ornate, repetitive patterns that she creates by transforming supermarket, fast food, big box store, and common household product logos. She incorporates these into large-scale, circular patterns that resemble sacred mandalas. Mandalas are cosmological diagrams that symbolically represent the universe and its cycles of life, death, and rebirth. As with a mandala, Klingberg's Wheel of Everyday Life begins at a central point and expands outward as if it could continue to infinity.
Klingberg asks whether it is possible to turn even our mundane habits into something spiritual. She takes a fresh look at the graphic symbols that are the visual equivalent of white noise pervading our daily routines of shopping and eating. She identifies those logos that stand out either for their graphic qualities or because their names imply a heightened mental state. For instance, the rainbow-topped word TODAY that is the logo for NBCs TODAY Show hints at an uplifting present. Life, Mothers, and Fiesta, each convey a greater feeling beyond their function. A ring of Fiesta grocery store logos, known well to Houstonians, looks surprisingly like Arabic calligraphy, while interconnected Whataburger logos become a band of vibrating lines. Through Klingbergs subtle adjustments, re-combinations, and repetition, the familiar takes on new meaning.
Gallery visitors can walk along the concentric paths to view familiar details or stand back to observe the image as a whole. As Klingberg explains, “My intention is to make a work for Rice Gallery that invades the space in an almost viral way. The symbols and patterns in this mandala transform into an image of how our daily rhythm of commonplace doings blends with advertising and enters deep into our lives, homes, and minds. The logos are a link between our public and private spheres, maybe even to the collective unconscious.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Gunilla Klingberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, where she studied Sculpture at Konstfack (University College of Arts, Crafts, Design), and Magazine and Newspaper Design at RMI-Berghs. She has had solo exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout Europe and was included in ARCO, Madrid (2008), and the 10th Istanbul Biennial (2007), and in Philagrafika: The Graphic Unconscious (2010) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Large-scale public commissions include the Triangeln Railway Station (2010) in central Malmö, Sweden, and the Nye Akershus Hospital (2008) Norway. In 2010, Klingberg received the Edstrandska Foundation Award, a five-year working grant from The Swedish Visual Arts Fund.Gunilla Klingberg lives and work in Stockholm. She is represented by Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm and Berlin.
Funding for travel and accommodations was provided by Iaspis, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual Artists.
PRESS
Article on
Page
May 2013
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Design Bridge Blog
12 April 2013
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Lost at E Minor
by Low Lai Chow
11 April 2013
Featured on
“ArtWorks”, WHYY-TV, Philadelphia
29 March 2013
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Texas Society of Architects
by Nonya Grenader
11 March 2013
Post on
Design Milk
7 March 2013
Interview with Gunilla Klingberg
The Front Row, KUHF
25 February 2013
Post on
The Houston Chronicle
22 February 2013
Post on
Culturemap
22 February 2013
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GOoood
21 February 2013
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Fast Co. Design
19 February 2013
Post on
Arts + Culture Magazine Houston
17 February 2013
Segment on
Houston PBS Arts InSight
February 2013
Interview by Rachel Hooper
Glasstire
31 January 2013
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New York Times
24 January 2013
Article by Meghan Hendley
Free Press Houston
15 January 2013
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Glasstire
6 January 2013
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TexasMonthly
January 2013
Photos by Nash Baker © nashbaker.com