ISSUES

ISSUES presents the artist duo Linda Pedersen & Henning Hamilton and Avd. Äpplet, an exhibition reassembling an abstract pre-school. Employing their now unmistakable style of charming craftsmanship mixed with a social cynicism they present their fifth large-scale project to date. We will see objects recognizable from education such as a small desk and an apple alongside picture-book stories, all cut from wood and then covered in silk paper and pigments.

Having received attention nationally and internationally for their installations of found and hand-crafted objects, the duo is known to draw on human and non-human relations and their social and political constructions, using a symbolic language and figurative storytelling.

Entering the department named Äpplet, we quickly see that it is a rather bemusing display. The fruit indicating the right location for the children has a worm coming out of it. A small desk has been cut in two and placed on each side of the room where two bewinged children have been given the same assignment. On the walls there are sculptural fables where the animals are exposed to existential challenges. The marbles on the table that have strange physical properties add to the, to say the least, weird things that happen at Avd. Äpplet.

LINDA PEDERSEN b. 1987 Gothenburg, Sweden, lives and works in Falerum, south-east Sweden. Linda has a BFA (2018) from Konstfack College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Her artistic education also took place at the Camberwell College of Art in London and at Tokyo Zokei University in Japan. She has had solo exhibitions such as Windy City Blues at BOY Art Gallery, Bollebygd (2020); Piggy’s Dream, Loyal Gallery, Stockholm (2019); Call of Heart at 3:e Våningen, Gothenburg (2017) and at Vita Rosen Gallery, Gothenburg (2014). Selected group exhibitions include Orphan Sky at Sven X:et Erixson museum, Botkyrka (2019); Garden Tales, Thielska Galleriet, Stockholm (2019); She’s Here, Kamarade, Falsterbo (2019); Black Moon, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2019); Water McBeer’s Residence, Deitch Projects, New York City (2018); Winter Show, Gallery Steinsland Berliner (2016, 2017), Stockholm; Alotlot, Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg (2017) and Downtown Issues, ISSUES, Stockholm (2021). In 2019 her public commission Sötebjörn was unveiled in Almunge.

HENNING HAMILTON b. 1987 Gothenburg, Sweden, also lives and works in Falerum, south-east Sweden. Henning studied at Konstskolan in Gothenburg but is mainly self-taught. Solo shows include Från A till B, ISSUES, Stockholm (2022); Deal with it, ISSUES, Stockholm (2019) and Monkey See, Monkey Do, Tatjana Pieters Gallery, Ghent (2017). He has participated in group shows such as Gullringsbo 2.0, Hospitalet, Stockholm (2023); ISSUES #6, ISSUES, Stockholm (2018); Call me, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm (2017); Friends in Need, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm (2016) and Påsksalong, Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg (2015).

LINDA PEDERSEN & HENNING HAMILTON have been exhibiting as an artist duo since 2021. Solo presentations include Jailhouse Rock, Arsenalsgatan 3, Stockholm (2021); My Melody, Norbergfestivalen, Västmanland (2022) and Stjärnornas Krig, Market Art Fair with ISSUES, Stockholm (2023). Also in 2023, they participated in Stockholm Issues, a group show organized by ISSUES at Mahkjip Gallery, Seoul, South Korea. They have an upcoming presentation at Thielska Galleriet in Stockholm and their grand cabinet sculpture Stjärnornas Krig is on view in the Norrköping Art Museum collection display.