Sixten Sandra Österberg

Sixten Sandra Österberg's painting is characterized by a representation of bodies taking form on the canvas, but also losing their form as they pulsate between realism and abstraction. Realistically depicted environments dissolve into fragmentary stillness and explosive discharges of paint. This creates a complex duality where the different modes of expression together form an enigmatic world to decipher. Detailed portraits of people from various subcultures, mainly queer, float in and on layers of paint - giving space for other, not always given, expressions and gestures.

Her aesthetic is marked by a form of “non-practice” or deviation from established rules for depiction. Instead of a face, the viewer might encounter a back or merely a fragment of a hand. In her unique world of images, Sixten Sandra Österberg creates a kind of hybrid painting with its own colouration and gaze in relation to the technical possibilities of painting to influence the resulting expression.

Sixten Sandra Österberg (b. 1990) resides and works in Stockholm. She graduated in 2022 with an MFA from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm and holds a BFA from Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts. She has also completed an exchange year at the Vienna Academy of the Arts. Recent solo and group exhibitions include Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; Company Gallery, New York; Green Family Art Foundation: Dallas; and Magasin III – Museum for Contemporary Art, Stockholm and her works are included in the collections of Moderna Museet, Stockholm and Magasin III – Museum for Contemporary Art, Stockholm.