Swedish Mexican-based artist Issa Salliander holds an MFA from City & Guilds of London Art School. She has had solo exhibitions at Galeria Kandlhofer in Vienna and OSL Contemporary in Oslo, and at her current representing gallery, Galeria Hilario Galguera, in Mexico City and Madrid. For her first solo exhibition in Sweden this week, she’s teamed up with 10 Chambers — the gaming studio behind Payday: The Heist, Payday 2, and GTFO — and its coming title, Den of Wolves. The collaboration explores the disparity between physical and digital painting with Salliander interpreting four of the masks for Den of Wolves, drawing inspiration from the game.
— 10 Chambers showed me some gaming aesthetics from GTFO, she says. And I really admired it. I was impressed and I thought about it a lot so when they did finally ask me to be a part of it, it was a no-brainer. I was so excited.
When was this?
— It’s not that long ago, actually — they asked me in January.
Oh, that’s fast. And what has the conversation been like since, between you?
— ’Free hands. We need a new set of masks. Do what you want. We want to be inspired.’
— They just said that ’we need it to be masks’, but that’s not so far from what I do. That’s also why they picked me, I think, because I’m a good fit for them; what I do conceptually is not too far off. When they said that they needed masks, I used inspiration from my past and learned stuff for my future, and created these paintings.
”Why would I say no to one of the biggest industries in the world?”
For Salliander, the partnership is a development as an artist.
— Why would I say no to one of the biggest industries in the world? It’s fascinating what they do. It’s like a crossover from the fine arts — those opportunities don’t come around that often, and to be offered that is an experience.
— I have full control. I trust them. The fun part about working with a video game is that when you make a painting or fine art in general, it’s about the viewer. Here, I have to think that I’m inside a user’s head. It’s the user of the mask and the viewer of the mask. What are they both seeing and then what am I seeing? It’s more of a three-way system than a two-way one.
Are you a gamer yourself?
— No, but I’m definitely familiar with the concept of a heist game. I would say that I’m more of an admirer. I like to look at things — I don’t necessarily need to take part. And I know that if I did take part, I would just sit there all day, which is amazing and a lot of fun, but I need to paint. I just love the whole world around it, just hanging out in their (10 Chambers’) offices. It’s such a happy environment. I’m super pleased.
It seems like the worlds of art and gaming just seem to merge more and more. Do you agree?
— Well, now they for sure have. So I’m hoping this is the beginning of opening up opportunities for others also.
You can benefit from each other.
— Exactly.
And now we will have two days of exhibition here and two parties as well. So you’ll have busy days.
— Yes. But I love it. It’s not busy when you’re having fun!
And for you personally, What are you up to next, after the exhibition this week?
— I’m working on an exhibition for my gallery in Mexico but for their space in Madrid. It’s still to be confirmed but not too far away, Salliander concludes.
