Based in Los Angeles, Swedish artist Pontus Willfors examines aspects of nature that are viewed by society as a product, manipulating natural materials into organic shapes like trees and everyday items.
His exhibition named ‘Homeland’ at Edward Cella Art & Architecture Gallery in Culver City shows commonplace domestic objects, re-created with intricately cut wood and barbed wire. Willfors replaced a mop’s coarse strings with razor wire, while another art work depicts a wired curtain, featuring clusters of short, sharp spikes. The most attention receives the art object titled ‘Chair’ which is lifted from the ground by undulating, spindly wooden branches and roots that reach out like lanky fingers, appearing to defy gravity. Through his work, Willfors analyzes the concept of our own home, how it shapes us and reflects our psyches. He explores the concept of a home as a safe haven, spotting that sometimes one’s shelter can become a frightening, inescapable cage.
