Botond Bokor Swedish-Transylvanian, b. 1978

In 2019, I spent two weeks in Bingsjö, Dalarna as part of the Danielsgården residency grant. During my stay, I was inspired by the characteristic shingle roofs of Dalarna, which resemble the shingle roofs of my childhood in Transylvania.

I wanted to translate the rhythm of the shingle roofs into a painterly pattern. This materialized through a series of paintings I created on wooden boards and stretched linen canvas using egg tempera. These paintings have since been further developed into objects.

The present stage in this series is examplified by the attached works. These works have masking tape as their starting point. It is a common tool in many artists’ arsenals, often used to protect, cover or delimit. At some point during experimentation I realized that I could vary the shingle roof pattern by building the pattern with bits of tape. I decided to give the masking tape itself more attention and letting it become part of the composition. Although masking tape is first and foremost used to make perfect edges, I allowed mistakes to happen by not sealing the canvas to rigorously when working with it. This method lets the paint bleed in under the masking tape, thereby creating interesting organic shapes in combination with perfect lines. This duality is very interesting to me. 

In my current works, the masking tape forms a grid or pattern with interrupted vertical lines. As a whole, the interrupted vertical lines form a picture within the picture. They create a rectangle or square referring to the image-bearing two-dimensional plane, symbolizing painting as an artform, furthermore art itself. I want the viewer to see different things depending on their point of focus. What is in front and what is behind? Is it the grid or the underlying layer that is the subject of the work? Or is it perhaps the interaction between the layers? The optical illusion that emerges encourages the viewer to shift their focus from one plane to another, inviting them to roam around and explore the artwork.