2. Half girl

ARTIST: Anders Krisár (2015)
TECHNIQUE: Bronze

Anders Krisár was born in 1973 in Stockholm and is an internationally celebrated artist. His art often emanates from an autobiographical perspective. Above all he gets inspiration from his childhood, which he himself has described as chaotic.

Half Girl Left is a companion to Half Boy which can be found in the Hothouse in the Kumla City Park. If you have not seen it, do drop by to take a look at it. When viewing Half Girl feelings of sorrow, incompleteness and regret are conveyed. These are feelings that we all might experience during life. The girl shows us an endless distance within her own self, a distance where reconciliation seems impossible. She is vulnerable and exposed. All these feelings are personal, private yet universal. The art work Half Girl was created shortly after Krisár´s mother died, and it is perhaps the first sculpture among Krisár´s work that does not radiate inner strength.

Krisár uses natural materials such as wax, gold, marble and bronze. The choice of material is an important signifier, tied to the significance of the work of art.

Anders Krisár is a Swedish photographer and installation artist. He was trained at The College of Arts, Craft and Design in Stockholm, The School of Communication Arts in London and has studied music composition at New York University in the US. Krisár had his first separate show in 2002 at Staley Wise Gallery in New York. His exhibits have attracted much attention especially in the USA where one of his shows was called “the most exciting in the world” by media. Yet another of his shows was picked out as one of the most important during 2013 by the internationally recognized art magazine Artforum.

Half Girl Left is cast in bronze at a foundry in Newburg, one of the best in the world, according to the artist himself. One idea behind the art work is to permit the girl to change according to weather and wind on the mount. Right now she is quietly resting on a slate of concrete. This work affects tough feelings – Krisár shows that we are all headed the same way in order to try to find out who we are and why we exist. Half Girl Left represents the struggle to become complete.

The down-sized simplicity touches us, regardless of who we are.