“Grasp features the ‘Mattress Lady,’ as I call her. Though this character figured in two earlier works, her appearance changes with each manifestation. In Grasp I see her as active, engaged and perhaps on the cusp of a feeling of satisfaction. The human/mattress hybrid signifies immobility and implies vice. The bed is open to various interpretations such as sloth, illness or lust. As with much of my work, viewers will project different aspects of themselves onto the subject.” - Erik Thor Sandberg

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Erik Thor Sandberg

Grasp, 2022

oil on panel

12h x 9w in

ES093

“In Ill Played the Mattress Lady is gaining a position of control. The boar beneath the mattress could provide her mobility or nourishment. Or, it could be seen as a pet receiving shelter, or maybe something more ominous. The costumed child pokes at a tear in her mattress-body. Is this provoking her? Well, she holds something behind her back and the empty case on the ground suggests a possible conclusion for the narrative.”- Erik Thor Sandberg

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Erik Thor Sandberg

Ill Played, 2022

oil on panel

12h x 9w in

ES094

“Lapse advances my query into the dynamics between human beings and their communities. The figure is overwhelmed by an architectural structure which is inhabited by a snake. She persists as an individual trying to be supportive of or to maintain a society. We see her at a moment when she seems to have buckled under the weight or perhaps has just given up the fight.” - Erik Thor Sandberg

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Erik Thor Sandberg

Lapse, 2022

oil on panel

13h x 11w in

ES095

“I started Adrift simply with a desire to paint a sea monster. The scene is the beginning of a journey, a narrative inspired by the phrase ‘set adrift.’ I wanted to express the uncontrollable nature of water, playing on the effect of an uncertain prospect, showing a horizon shifting with a building wave and the ebb that preceded it. In this vista you can go with the flow or flail, kicking and screaming.” - Erik Thor Sandberg

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Erik Thor Sandberg

Adrift, 2022

oil on panel

13h x 11w in

ES090