Artist Hans Isaksson can hardly be blamed for ingratiation towards his audience. He reminds us that a human life is no different than a match cursorily flaring up in the dark. And he offers us popcorn made of lead. But at the same time he seems to worry about being too generous. " You can not be too kind" he says, talking to himself. by Annika Hansson, Art Orbit

FIREWORKS (2 min, RealVideo) Video loop of work Hans Isaksson´s most recent exhibition is called "Fireworks". At first glance his work looks like rectangular monocromes of a reddish brown shade. But it is all in fact striking surfaces, as on a match-box. And only half of the work was finished on the opening day at the gallery Galleri Roger Björkholmen, Stockholm. What - is this a lazy artist? No, this is a truely generous artist. Hans Isaksson invites the audience to let themselves loose and fill in the work with their own matches. Scratch, there you go… And then "Fireworks" is finished. The flames have gone out and the striking surfaces have cooled down. Thin carvings of matches. Fragile traces of human hands.     No, Hans Isaksson doesn´t have to worry about being too kind. He transforms seemingly daily objects into poetic and poisionous things inherent in a new function, a new meaning. At the moment he is expanding his collection of lead popcorn. "Please, have one… but you will die", seems to be the message. And some time ago one could, during one´s shopping tour at Impuls in Stockholm, come across his "Class Reunion" - five pairs of jeans stitched together. A piece of clothing which symbolizes capitalism and the American cultural imperialism but which originally was the outfit of workers. Is Isaksson making fun of us?    Maybe he gives that a thought as well, as he seems to have genuine interest in the reactions of his audience. At "Fireworks" he has had three different opportunities to study his audience´s actions. The first time he used the concept of the striking surfaces was at an exhibition aiming to draw attention to the issue of AIDS. The striking surface was placed in a bar and here the audience was quite modest, carving a few lines, sketching some hearts…At the Stockholm Art Fair in 1998 the audience was more ambitious. At Galleri Roger Björkholmen this winter people were more than willing to leave a trace of their presence. How this happened you can see in Hans Isaksson´s video. Click and watch.~