Picnic With a Red Cadillac Painting

Anna Christina Eriksson was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Both her parents are educated at Konstfack – University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. Her father, Rolf Eriksson, was an advertising illustrator and graphic designer. During her teens, Eriksson learned how to create logos and printed matter at her father's advertising company. Eriksson is an autodidact but has received an extensive artistic education from both her parents. Eriksson's technique is a genuine craft and her paintings are characterized by her perfectionism. Eriksson's fascination for social realism led her to start an art project in 1995. For seven years she studied a subculture from the inside. The result was thousands of photos and life stories. She documented everything with a small Minox camera and processed the material in her studio. This solo project would later lead to her debut exhibition in Gallery 5 at the museum Kulturhuset Stockholm with two subsequent exhibitions at Fryshuset and The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. Her method is to go into her projects 24 hours a day for months, to get to know the people and their environments. The result is a personal artistic experience. Almost like a diary. In this way, Eriksson opens a door for the viewer to the worlds that she depicts. The composition of a painting is created with several different photographs to achieve the expression or mood that Eriksson wants to present. She only use her own photographs. With this method the paintings get a photographic impression but with additional dimensions, which constitutes Eriksson's artistic brand. ARTIST STATEMENT As an artist, I am driven by curiosity. I usually do a thorough research when I’m starting a project. This means that I go to different environments to obtain photographic references. I look for everything from subcultures to places. These environments are my main sources for inspiration. As a hyper-realistic painter, I always use reference photographs that I have photographed myself. My paintings can be a mix of several different photographs fused into a hyper-realistic wholeness. I work according to old proven techniques. First, I draw the motif on a canvas or sometimes panel with charcoal. Then I paint a dry under painting with complementary colors in egg oil tempera. After these preparations I start painting with oil paint in thin layers with invisible brush strokes. I always choose pigments, oil paint and canvas or panel of the highest quality.