SCHOLARSHIP WINNER 2023
William Jernberg’s fat pastels cover the canvas sparingly. The remaining surfaces give the drawings a deceptively abstract character. After all, if you squint the motifs appear figurative, precise, and with a perfection of light. The stillness of nature, an uprooted tree, a juniper shrub, a clear springtime sun shining through a wintry pine forest. In parallel and equally captivating: the trail of the chalk, its dance across the woven texture of the canvas, the presence of the thinking hand.

"The drawing has existed in parallel with the work that has remained on the farm. They’ve gone in and out of each other.

Since graduating from Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, I have lived at a deceased person’s farm in Dalarna and looked after the animals that were left there. Six months have passed since I graduated. I’ve spent that time painting and drawing every day, inspired by animals, trees, and odds and ends. I’ve observed the light around the farm.

Nature is subtle. In my opinion, drawing has a way of highlighting equivalences between nature and the artist. Some paintings are produced outdoors during the day, next to what I’m painting. Others are produced indoors in the evening – just me by myself, entirely made-up."