Ulrika Blide

Ulrika Blide is an artist from Gothenburg in Sweden. She studied Fine Art in Sweden graduating with a MFA from the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. In her installations, sculptures and paintings she has, over the years, dealt with the subject of childhood and innocence coming to terms with the harshness of living reality. She draws inspiration from the clash of worlds that constantly bombards us via the media. By opening herself up to breathe and feel what she sees in the real world as well as through the tinted lens of the media, she is impelled into materializing her innermost conflicts in the form of drawings paintings and sculptures.Over the last few years she has concentrated her efforts on developing her considerable skills as a painter. She works a lot from old childhood snaps juxtaposed against city-landscapes, fusing the self-portrait and landscape genre into her own personal expression. She uses bright colours in her paintings and, against the often-grim subject matters that she tackles forcefully recreates the tension between the visually attractive and the emotionally and morally repellent.

EDUCATION / QUALIFICATIONS:1995-2001, Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, Sweden , BA, MFA (www.kkh.se/index.php/en/about-kkh) 1997 Chelsea school of fine art London, UK(exchange studies from RCFA Stockholm); 1992-1995 Hovedskous Painting School, Gothenburg, Sweden; 1991-1992 KV Art School, Gothenburg, Sweden SCHOLARSHIPS/GRANTS: 2010 Residency Ricklunds garden, Saxnas Sweden; 2003-2004 Konstnrsnamndens arbetsstipendium (the State Institution for Art, scholarship in arts, Working grant for one year); 2002 Langmanska Culture-Scholarship; 2002 IASPIS Studio Residency (April-October 2002) Stockholm Sweden; 2001 Helge Ax:son Johnsons foundation; 2001 Boberghs B-fond; 2001 The Academy support fond; 2001 Axel Hirsch fond2000 Gerhard & Peggy Bonniers stip, fond; 2000 A Th Sandbergs fond; 1996 Wilhelm Smiths fond; SOLO EXHIBITIONS: 2004 Arnstedt & Kullgren Gallery, Ostra Karup Sweden; 2002 The Theatre gallery, Kalmar Sweden; 2001 The Mejan Gallery, Stockholm Sweden; 2000 The Mejan Gallery, Stockholm Sweden, 30 days in the public factory of lies; 1999 The Mejan Gallery, Stockholm Sweden; GROUP EXHIBITIONS: 2010 Lambeth wide open; 2010 Space Open, London; 2009 Art Works Open, Barbican Arts Group Trust, Art works project space, London UK20...