Ida Ekblad

Ida Ekblad (b. 1980) has been a breath of fresh air on the Norwegian and international art scene since she graduated from art school in 2007. She works in a variety of genres, from street art, readymades, photography and graffiti to combines ranging between painting and sculpture. The last two years she was involved in several exhibitions in Europe and the USA, and while some were solo shows in small, artist-controlled galleries, others have been large group exhibitions, e.g., 'Younger Than Jesus' at the New Museum in New York. But in addition, she has been exhibiting in commercial galleries in Paris and New York. The explanation for this rapid career development lies not only in her artistic practice and outstanding works, but also in the international network she has built through curating the project Willy Wonka Inc.

Ekblad’s works are characterized by raw energy, humour, irony and powerful visual word-play. Her art is based on appropriations filtered through her own world of references. Already at 13-14 years old Ekblad logged onto Internet; she belongs to the first generation whose teenage years were shaped by this media. She is justified in calling herself a 'computer princess' and readily admits to being inspired by a welter of things. Ekblad approaches her material with intensity and fearlessness, regardless of whether the sources are the Internet, National Geographic or art history.

The cultural ballast this artist delves into is characterized by youth culture and subcultures, especially those found in the USA. Political Song for Jessica Simpson to Sing (2007)* consists of an enlarged picture of the young pop idol copied from a 2005 GQ Magazine cover. Simpson wears a 'stars and stripes' bikini and unzipped camouflage trousers. Around her neck hangs a military dog tag. Ekblad attacks this type of banal, stereotypical picture of American patriotism, which burgeoned in the wake of the Iraq war and the 'war on terror', by using an equally banal language: she sticks a wad of pink bubblegum on Simpson’s right eye. It is an obvious comment on how phenomena in our world are so quickly ingested and then spit out.

Ekblad’s art belongs to a visual culture that responds cynically to political themes. The artists Nate Lowman, Dan Colen, Matias Faldbakken and Gardar Eide Einarsson explore similar mechanisms. In Tomb Poetry (Death DEATH) (2008) the mood deepens into dystopia. This is a digital collage of text and headings Ekblad has photographed from old National Geographic magazines. It is marked by an expressiveness and absurdity that are atypical for most appropriationist art, but which are typical for Ekblad’s heart-felt variety. Semantic poems, especially works by Stefan Themerson, are claimed to be great sources of inspiration for the poet Ida Ekblad. Themerson used existing poems, e.g., haiku, and made imaginative associations for each word. These became new poems in visually beautiful and graphically composed linear verse. There is much to suggest that the same characteristics can be transferred to Ekblad’s art.

Both works discussed here were first presented at AFMoMA in 2008, in the large exposition of young Norwegian contemporary artists called 'Lights On – Norwegian Contemporary Art'.

GÅ

* The work is no longer a part of the exhibition.