Anna Afzelius-Alm

Art has always been a part of my life. I grew up surrounded by artwork from artists in my family such as Anton Dich, Birgit Forsell, Tore Nyberg and Ivar Arosenius. However life first took me down a different professional path. During the summer of 2015 I decided to follow my heart and start painting full time.

I was born in 1975 in Minneapolis, USA, grew up in Germany and have lived in England, Switzerland and China. After a rather busy and perhaps stressful corporate background I have now finally settled down with my husband and two boys in Sigtuna, Sweden, where I also have my studio.

The goal with my art is to brighten up the daily life with a playful splash of color. I believe that what we surround ourselves with becomes a part of ourselves. Inspiring, colourful surroundings have the ability to raise our mood, help us reload our batteries, stimulate our creativity and open our minds for new, interesting things. Through colourful art our world becomes fascinating and wonderful.

My work often originates from different moments that I have experienced or a feeling that I want to convey. In the beginning my paintings focused merely on the figurative, but lately I have also become interested in nature, structures and buildings, as well as a higher degree of abstraction. I often interpret reality through large, textured oil paint sweeps. Mostly the vivid color is applied with knife to add structure. I sometimes combine this with piped colour and collage.

Although I'm mainly self taught in painting, I hold an education in use design from the Académie des Arts in Gothenburg. During my high school years in Germany excile professor Shahab Mussavizadeh from Teheran University of Arts was my mentor. My University studies consist of an MBA from Gothenburg School of Economics and Law, an MSc in Informatics from Gothenburg IT-University and Mandarin studies from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.