Warren King is an American artist who lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. In the exhibition HÅLLBART, King presents a collection of life­sized figures constructed from cardboard.

The impetus for this body of work came after King visited his grandparents' small village in China for the first time. After meeting elderly residents who had known his grandfather,the artist began to reflect upon their shared history, memories, and a sense of relation which has stayed with King ever since. 

Recently, when King left his own home in the U.S. and moved to Stockholm, the connection to his grandfather and the lost relations from this village accompanied him. With a heightened awareness of the time and distance that comes with being far away from home while creating home anew, King has often found himself reflecting on “the nature of personal and cultural connections, the consequences of severing them, and the limits to how much they can ultimately be restored”.

We are proud to show the first group of villagers that materialized in Warren King’s sculpture series, and to witness how the artist’s work of fragile and dislocated recreation will continue. How are we connected to each other, and to our histories? King’s sculptures ask these questions at every step and lays bare fundamental questions of who we are as humans, and how lasting our connections on this earth can be.

 

- Text by artist Joanne Grune-Yanoff