First Level of Internationality 2016

Curator: Erik Sigerud’s mixed media piece, “First Level of Internationality,” completed in 2016, immediately strikes me with its layered reality—figures juxtaposed against a vivid, almost apocalyptic sky. Editor: There’s a compelling friction here between the conventional setting of what looks like a board room, and the expressionistic freedom of the brushstrokes and color palette. The overlaid red lines map something—anxiety, trade routes, historical scars perhaps? Curator: Exactly. The graffiti-esque linework traces borders, superimposing them onto a scene suggestive of global negotiations. The subjects around the table feel confined, while in the background the monumental "Raft of the Medusa" is visible. It raises questions of complicity. Editor: That classical painting evokes a powerful symbol of collective catastrophe, of broken hierarchy, even. Pairing that imagery with a group of suited figures creates a really potent visual metaphor about leadership and historical accountability. Do you read those splashes of vivid colors—yellow, red, blue—as purely decorative, or carrying other weight? Curator: The color disrupts, drawing attention to the artificiality of the depicted scene and the very idea of stable borders. The choice feels purposeful in its association to fauvism. They remind us that "internationality" is not just a structural condition but an unstable and deeply human drama with ethical consequences. The elevated lifeguard implies who dictates who is safe, who survives. Editor: The artist clearly uses a symbolic vocabulary that invites multiple interpretations. The lifeguard does become a very fraught figure when viewed from a socio-political context, evoking ideas of power and oversight. Overall, "First Level of Internationality" provides ample fodder for contemplating power, history and contemporary challenges in really fascinating ways. Curator: Precisely; it's an ambitious effort to visually unpack globalization. A crucial work for navigating the intersectionality between past atrocities and contemporary issues. Editor: An artwork that asks more than it answers and really succeeds because of it. Thank you.