Silkscreen print, edition of 50, signed and numbered by artist, unframed

Destination: Näsets Marcusgård, Sweden

Date: 5-12 September, 2021

Jaunt #076

approx. 27.5"h x 19.75"w, 70cm x 50cm

"From the first moment I arrived in Stockholm, and all the way up north to Dalarna, the amount of trees I saw everywhere impressed me and it is hard for me to describe other than saying amazing. At the same time I was surprised by the lack of people around. You can walk for hours and see nobody else. On one of the days I walked into the woods to find a big lake, and there was nobody around at all. Everything felt creepy and amazing at the same time. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to experience this in Spain where I live. The owners of Nasets Marcusgard really welcomed us with open arms and made us feel right at home. The whole place feels so cozy and inspiring and made the perfect place for us artists to share this beautiful connection and energy we had all together. We had so many happy moments I’ll always remember.

When I first arrived I didn't really want to paint anything, I just wanted to be there, meet the other artists and experience the place. And all of a sudden I had a crazy big and nice loft studio at my disposal, all the materials that I needed, and the studio was actually just two doors from my room, how could I not create? I started painting in the same way I am used to painting in my own studio, but as the week progressed I wanted to try something else. After I made a quick drawing of trees, I decided everything I had made before that felt disconnected from the reality we were experiencing, and that led me to translate this small drawing into a massive canvas of 6 by 2 meters on the very last night. Thanks to the help of Olivier and his kindness and happiness I managed to finish it.

This painting and all the colors of the trees are connected to Sweden, from the brownish red from the houses to the autumn colors on the trees, it really captured something for me. Back home I sometimes want to do figurative painting, just for have fun, but then I don't actually get to it. I feel so comfortable working on the unpredictable, but how could I talk about this experience without going straight to the matter? The silkscreen print came out beautifully as well, and to me it really feels and looks like the original painting."

-Seleka