“Having painted these works during the pandemic, that circumstance can’t help but seep into all three of them. I began one, Pillar, prior to the pandemic. I was elaborating a few motives from my earlier paintings. It was often difficult to work on once Covid reared its head, because some of its content reflected the odd world we entered. Death is dancing through the streets. Masks are being worn by half of the living. The world seems off-kilter.”

“The setting for Pillar is purposefully nebulous to suggest a closed environment without external factors beyond light and gravity. In as much as this is a depiction of a city, it is more of a dollhouse version of one. I look at it as a celestial body with inhabitants scurrying about on it. The main figure’s pose is off balance to convey the uncertainty and worry she has for the world she maintains. She is the support for this world. The small figures do not interact directly with her because she is like the ground we stand on - not really considered until it gives way beneath us.” 

“The masks and costumes in Pillar serve to equalize the living with the dead. Most of the masks on the living are skulls. Some of the dead disguise themselves as living. In this image, as with previous depictions of Death, I see the animated dead not as zombies but as symbols of change over time. I implied the passage of time in the form of a snake with no head or tail visible. Its body weaves throughout the city, like a trail of smoke or a storm gathering on the horizon. But, much as in other of my paintings, it is more of an enigma than an overt threat. Without seeing the snake’s head and most specifically its mouth, its current state of mischief is everything and nothing all at once.” -Erik Thor Sandberg

“The central figure in Vacancy is enveloped by simply constructed birdhouses. Yet no bird is seen using the ‘homes’ provided; the snake is the only visible inhabitant. The ‘vacancy’ of the title refers not only to the empty modular structures, but also to the maw of the snake. The birds flying in the background of Vacancy are swallows. For small birds, they are swift and agile, so their interaction with the snake may not necessarily be fatal.”

“In contrast to the steady pose seen in Stable, the central figure of Vacancy has a more dynamic, less balanced pose. I wanted an architecture that would envelop this figure as the birds enveloped the figure in Stable. Even though she is surrounded and hindered by the birdhouses, she is also insulated by the walls of them. Maybe this is an effect of my having a home in the city. Walking around the city is a bit of chaos, but once you are on the other side of a six-inch brick wall, you feel more secure, insulated from others as well as from outside elements.” -Erik Thor Sandberg