Utan titel / Untitled

The koala is a recurring motif in Meta Isæus-Berlin’s artistic production. Recent examples include works such as Eskapism /Escapism (2020, pencil on paper, 32.5 x 22.5 cm), Svårt att sova / Hard to Sleep (2022, oil on canvas, 45 x 45 cm), Filosofen / The Philosopher (2022, bronze, 64 x 33 x 18 cm) and Koala / The Koala (2024, oil on canvas, 120 x 125 cm). Svårt att sova / Hard to Sleep and Filosofen / The Philosopher in particular seem to be relevant objects of comparison when considering the present watercolour and pencil drawing Utan titel / Untitled.

In three of these cases: Svårt att sova / Hard to Sleep, Utan titel / Untitled and Filosofen / The Philosopher, the compositions depicts a koala lying in a bed. Seen from above, as in Utan titel / Untitled, the bed looks strikingly familiar, and surely the little innocent animal’s resting place must be the same bed that Isæus-Berlin previously depicted in the bronze sculpture Nattlogik / Night Logic (2018, bronze, 196 x 80 x 15 cm, Firestorm Foundation) and the oil painting Återberättelsen om Nattlogik / The Retelling of Night Logic (2019, oil on canvas, 190 x 140 cm, Firestorm Foundation)? The similarities are most evident in the sculpture The Philosopher (which gave name to Isæus-Berlin’s most recent international exhibition, at Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa, Finland, 2 November 2024 - 29 March 2025). In this context, Utan titel / Untitled can thus be seen as a mediating link between two of Isæus-Berlin’s most iconic bronze sculptures: Nattlogik / Night Logic and Filosofen / The Philosopher. The existence of this (supposed) connection is strengthened by Isæus-Berlin’s own words when, in connection with the exhibition The Philosopher, she wrote (isaeusberlin.se) the following about the bronze sculpture of the same name:

Sometimes I experience night logic as an opposition to day logic, like a snake shedding its skin. Many of my artworks are born at night, I feel happy and free then, visions glide easily through different rooms. In the morning I always know what to do. But suddenly I saw myself from outside, lying in the dark, wide awake, like a koala, the motionless animal, chewing a eucalyptus leaf as it watched the world.

Isæus-Berlin relates her preoccupation with koalas to the lingering suggestive power of early childhood memories (isaeusberlin.se):

Perhaps it’s an early memory from childhood, or is it a reminiscence of the time when people drew headed babies? A big head with oversized eyes looking at you with kind eyes. The dreaminess of it. I had intended to paint a whole series of animals so looking down on me and started with the Koala which then filled me with such calm that I stopped there. But I will probably complete the series eventually.

In this context, it is also interesting to quote the following account (retold in Tidskapslar. Alla mina instalationer, 2019) of the artist’s visit to Australia, where she was working on the installation The Abandoned Dwarfs (1999, water, textile, wood, lamps, 1000 x 120 x 280 cm) as a part of Signs of Life, Melbourne International Biennial:

Some of the assistants on the installation were artists too. One was from Tasmania, and she and I became friends. She told me she swam with dolphins in the ocean every morning, and gave me insights into her close relationship with these animals. Quite wonderful. She invited me to join her, but I had already bought my plane tickets home, and I was also seven months pregnant, and a little homesick, as I usually am. My brother had travelled with me, which was very nice. Someone took care of the beds after I left. I thought they were going to a new museum that was opening in Melbourne, but the museum was never built and my work vanished. Before I visited Australia, I imagined it teeming with wildlife, but I didn’t see a single koala there, not even when we went to the zoo.

The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae. Its closest living relatives are the wombats. The koala is found in coastal areas of the island’s eastern and southern regions, inhabiting Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. It is easily recognisable by its stout, tailless body and large head with round, fluffy ears and large, dark nose. The koala has a body length of 60–85 cm and weighs 4–15 kg. Its fur colour ranges from silver grey to chocolate brown. Koalas from the northern populations are typically smaller and lighter in colour than their counterparts further south. These populations are possibly separate subspecies, but not all researchers accept this.

Koalas typically inhabit open Eucalyptus woodland, as the leaves of these trees make up most of their diet. This eucalypt diet has low nutritional and caloric content and contains toxic compounds that deter most other mammals from feeding on them. Koalas are largely sedentary and sleep up to twenty hours a day. They are asocial; only mothers bond with dependent offspring.

Because of their distinctive appearance, koalas, along with kangaroos, are recognised worldwide as symbols of Australia. They were hunted by Indigenous Australians and depicted in myths and cave art for millennia. The first recorded encounter between a European and a koala was in 1798, and an image of the animal was published in 1810 by George Perry (1771 - 1823, 19th-century English naturalist, artist, and malacologist). Robert Brown (1773 – 1858, Scottish botanist and paleobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope) wrote the first detailed scientific description in 1814 although his work remained unpublished for 180 years. Artist John Gould (1804 – 1881, Gould’s work is referenced in Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species) illustrated and described the koala, thereby introducing the species to the British public. Further details about the animal’s biology were revealed in the 19th century by English scientists. Koalas are listed as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Among the many threats to their existence are habitat destruction caused by agriculture, urbanisation, droughts, and associated bushfires, some related to climate change. In February 2022, the koala was officially listed as endangered in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Queensland.

Provenance

CFHILL, Stockholm, Meta Isæus-Berlin ‘As I See It’, 20 January - 17 February 2023.

Firestorm Foundation (acquired at the above).

Copyright Firestorm Foundation