Couple – Studies

Two figures on handmade paper, and between them a white form I left undrawn — the space of the relationship, which somebody has to fill.

Couple – Studies is a small drawing on handmade paper. In it I take up a subject that keeps returning in my work. I draw pairs of people, and I study how to place them in relation to one another. I am looking for a way to show a relationship. And there is probably nothing more complicated than the relations between two human beings.

In this drawing I decided to leave the part the two figures share undrawn. It makes a form of its own, autonomous, which brings the composition alive without disturbing the legibility of the figures.

That white form is the space of the relationship. It has to be filled.

Will this couple manage it? I hope so. They are close to each other. They are resting in an armchair. That piece of furniture is made for rest. When do we sit down in an armchair? When we want a moment of quiet — to fall into thought, to consider something.

The armchair-man

Here the armchair has gone right into the man's silhouette. It has become an armchair-man. I think this came out of his wish to surround her with as much care as he possibly could.

And she — partly sunk into him. Yet her dress reaches out beyond the form of the armchair-man. That is the sign of her independence.

I caught this couple at the moment when they are trying to be very close to one another. I drew them sketchily: without detail, without faces, without arms.

This drawing is dedicated to every couple. Let each of them decide whether it is a story about themselves.

See Couple – Studies in the gallery →

The drawing is an original work on handmade paper, signed, with a certificate of authenticity, and it exists only once.

Studio Letters

A letter from the studio, once a month.

The story behind a work — what I was living or questioning while it was being made — and the first look at new pieces, before they go anywhere else. Written from Boxholm, to one person, not to a list.

Receive the letters

No noise, no selling. One letter a month, and you can step away any time.