POP CULTURE! Issue

Candy Lab
Hi, I really think that the word
POP has never been so accurate to
describe an artist looking at your
pieces!
I guess you could say my work follows
the legacy of the Pop artists - the vivid
colours, drawing on the everyday
and popular culture references. But
perhaps more so in the sense of Pop
as a verb..? I think the abundance of
colours, sweetness of the materials and
intensity of the details can sometimes
have a physical effect on the viewer.
Where do all of these colours came
from?
I love fluorescent and pastel colours,
and glitter. These are the colours of
the commercial world, of things that
are created purely to entice us into
consuming them. Candy, toys, useless
plastic objects and advertising signs.
And there is always a lot of pink in
my work. For me, the kind of pink
I use is the colour of sweets and
childhood.
I colour all of the sugar for each
installation on site, with the help of
assistants. We usually use 500 or 600
kilograms of sugar and make about
150 unique colours. Some of the
installations become a bit psychedelic
with this overload of highly saturated
colours.
You work with quite interesting
materials, including candy and
everyday objects. Why do you
choose to work with such things?
Sugar is the main ingredient of
many of the works. I think it elicits
a physical response in the audience,
a desire to taste the sweetness. It’s
connected to childhood memories of
eating or wanting to eat candies. But
it also holds an empty promise – the
promise of something pleasurable
but fleeting. Sugar isn’t good for you,
but we still crave it. As for the found
objects, I’m always scouring markets,
flea markets, craft stores, and toy
shops wherever I go. I love finding
unexpected materials and objects.
This is such a fun part of my work!
Each work is unique and site specific.
Including local objects adds to the
conversation I’m having with that
place.
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Your work seems like some sort of
paradise or fairy tale, would you
consider your work to be a get-away
from everyday life?
I think that when people encounter
my work they are often absorbed in
the tiny details and feel as though
they are transported to another time
or place. Perhaps to a childhood
memory, or a world they can only
imagine. This is a kind of escape
from the everyday, but perhaps it also
provides the impetus to imagine a
better world.