Nils Alix-Tabeling

Nils Alix-Tabeling works principally in sculpture and installation to craft entrancing environments mediated on themes of witchcraft, paganism, herbalism, and the occult. Seeking to create space for experiences which have been silenced by heteropatriarchal society, Alix Tabeling uses sculpture as a medium to sensitively revive these forgotten stories, and uses empathy as his guiding force. The artist works with a wide plethora of materials such as wood, steel, textiles, and resin, while also incorporating earthy materials such as burnt ashes, dried flowers, or pearls into the fabric of his sculptures. All at once beguiling and disarming, Alix-Tabeling’s works can intrigue and unsettle audiences. Seemingly entering a more than human realm, contorted cats cross into an anthropomorphic terrain, wearing human clothes, laughing, or crying out for viewer’s attention. The artist also often plays with the tropes of furniture design by portraying elongated chairs with wooden knots and gnarled claws at their feet. Through utilising myth and folklore as narrative vessels, Alix Tabeling unearths the historic experiences of persecuted spiritual groups, queer communities, and people of colour, while drawing an awareness to their continued erasure within contemporary society.