Fountains, 2025
(Where the Flood Begins)
Andreas R Andersson at Råneå Konsthall, Sápmi, Sweden
20th December 2025 – 26th of January
Exhibition Text:
Four teddy bears sit on pedestals. Made of polyester and cotton, they once belonged to a world of comfort, protection, childhood and intimacy. Now they appear torn, contaminated, and heavy with a dark liquid that slowly leaks from their bodies. Silent and slumped inward, they seem caught in a state of mourning, turned not toward the viewer, but toward themselves.
The liquid of the fountains pulses like a heartbeat. It reminds us that all living things are connected, and that what melts in the Arctic also seeps into our living rooms, our memories and our dreams. This is a work that offers no comfort, but neither does it surrender to despair.
Fountains can be read as an allegory of climate breakdown, but also as a meditation on the loss of innocence and on what happens when the symbols we trust to protect us begin to fail. Like the world they mirror, these bodies are damaged but still present and it is a slow leak from our collective subconscious. The work offers no easy consolation, but it does not retreat into hopelessness. Instead, it creates a space of tension between care and destruction, vulnerability and responsibility. The bears are marked by both love and abandonment.
BIO:
Andreas R Andersson is an artist living in the small village of Arvidsjaur near the Arctic Circle in Sápmi, Sweden. His work zeroes in on the militarization and industrialisation of the Arctic, Sápmi, and northern Europe, sounding alarm bells for its devastating environmental toll. With his violent sterile installations, the burnt-out colours in his sculptures and an ability to combine handcrafted materials with mass-produced everyday objects, Andersson creates an uncanny picture of today’s cultural and political landscape.
He amplifies the muted cries of these ravaged landscapes, seizing the viewer’s attention while heralding the relentless transformation of our global environment.
Andersson is educated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, Valand Academy, Gothenburg and Konstfack, Stockholm. He has worked and exhibited his work across Europe, China the United States and South Africa.