Duda Bebek
Backslash Fantasy
12.02—12.03.16

Gallery Steinsland Berliner proudly presents:

Duda Bebek – BACKSLASH FANTASY

12th February – 12th March 2016

In preparation for Duda Bebek’s first solo show at Gallery Steinsland Berliner, art historian and podder Jenny Danielsson did a studio visit with the artist and gave us a short introduction to her artistry.

Who is Duda Bebek?

Duda Bebek is a Swedish artist who creates figurative paintings and sculpture. Her solo exhibition BACKSLASH FANTASY is at Steinsland Berliner Gallery in Stockholm. The opening reception is on February 12, and the show runs until March 12, 2016.

What is her background?

She studied at the Valand Academy in Gothenburg and Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna, with professor Daniel Richter. She graduated in 2012. Today she lives and works in Stockholm.

What inspired the exhibition BACKSLASH FANTASY, and what can you expect to see?

The exhibition showcases a series of colourful paintings, inspired by the Internet memes created by what the artist refers to as ‘online hobby artists’. A meme can be described as a perpetually mutating memory. In a web context it is often a text, a video or sound that spreads virally and changes as it spreads. Her inspiration stems primarily from a meme known as Rule#34, which gives viewers the facility to add their fantasies, often as animations. Violence, sex and humour are in focus.

Why does she choose to work with figurative painting?

The human eye sees recognisable figures in abstract forms, and abstract forms in figurative representations. For her, finding traces of human presence in an image provides her with a connection to her body. She doesn’t draw a line between the abstract and the figurative. She explains: “My starting point is the meme, but the painting is really a representation of my engagement with it. I’m not interested in copying. The meme is just the meme, it doesn’t have anything to do with me as an artist.”

Does she always include images of female bodies in her paintings?

They’re more like symbols for a psychological state than real, living bodies.

What does working on your paintings involve?

40 % trawling for images online, 40 % painting, 20 % reflection.

What other artists does she like?

Allison Katz, Mira Dancy, Matisse, Vera Nilsson and Picasso.

Where has her work been shown before?

In 2015 the Gillmeier Rech Gallery in Berlin showed the exhibition Only Posers Fall in Love.
The year before she exhibited Alien Silhouette with Gallery Thomassen, Gothenbourg. In 2014 she collaborated with Lilly Thiessen on the exhibition Spill the Spell at Büro Weltausstellung in Vienna.
She has also participated in a number of group shows, such as Vårsalongen 2010 at Liljevalchs Stockholm.

BACKSLASH FANTASY is her first solo exhibition in Stockholm.