‘Wheel of Everyday Life’: New installation opens at Rice Gallery Jan. 31

Swedish artist Gunilla Klingberg reconfigures supermarket, fast food and big-box store logos into large-scale patterns associated with sacred Buddhist mandalas and cosmological diagrams used for meditation in a new installation commissioned for the Rice University Art Gallery.

Klingberg's "A Sign in Space," 2012, sandprint at Laga beach, Urdaibai, Spain. Photo: Peter Geschwind. Courtesy artist and Galerie Nordenhake.

“Wheel of Everyday Life” will be on view from Jan. 31 to March 17. An opening celebration Jan. 31 from 5 to 7 p.m. will feature a gallery talk by the artist at 6 p.m. A luncheon reception will be Feb. 1 from noon to 1 p.m.; the artist will speak at noon. All events are free and open to the public.

Drawing from a background in graphic design and sculpture, Klingberg creates her own three-dimensional, graphic worlds that cover floors, walls and windows in ornate, repetitive patterns. For her Rice Gallery installation, Klingberg continues her series “Brand New View” (2002-present) in which she brings together her interests in everyday consumerism and forms of Eastern spirituality.

Klingberg was born in Stockholm, where she studied sculpture at Konstfack (University College of Arts,  Crafts, Design) and magazine and newspaper design at RMI-Berghs. She has had solo exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout Europe, including ARCO (2008) and the 10th Istanbul Biennial (2007) and recently in the United States in Philagrafika: The Graphic Unconscious (2010) in Philadelphia. Her large-scale public commissions include the Triangeln Railway Station (2010) in central Malmö, Sweden, and the Nye Akershus Hospital (2008) Norway.

In 2010, Klingberg received the Edstrandska Foundation Award and a five-year working grant from the Swedish Visual Arts Fund. She lives and work in Stockholm.

The Rice Gallery, located on the first floor of Sewall Hall, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thursdays, when the gallery stays open until 7 p.m. On Sundays the gallery is open from noon to 5 p.m. The gallery is closed on Mondays and university holidays.

For more information on the installation, visit http://ricegallery.org/ or call 713-348-6069.