Alexander Mood: ABDICATION

Prospect Art presents Alexander Mood: ABDICATION at the TRYST International Art Fair

August 7 – August 9, 2026

• Hours: VIP Opening on Friday, Aug 7 (4:00 PM – 6:00 PM); Saturday & Sunday, Aug 8–9 (12:00 PM – 6:00 PM)

• Location: Del Amo Crossing, 21535 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503

• Admission: Free

ABOUT THE WORK

When my father, Lars Karngård, who was also an artist, passed away in 2010, he left me with a large collection of both documents and objects, all equally personal and carrying a deep charge, but without economic value. In addition, I discovered that he had left behind all the documents for an ongoing kingdom, complete with constitutions, history, and documentation. A kingdom that he had built up over decades. Thousands of plastic soldiers that he had sorted into regiments of fictional armies, razors from five generations back, maps of a kingdom that only existed in his mind. At first, I ignored all this and put everything away in drawers until five years ago, when I instead began to relate my mind to it. I took on the role of king and worked out whether I could change the kingdom by changing the laws. I delved into the collections within two artistic research projects at Konstfack and Stockholm University of the Arts. Three exhibitions searching for who my father was, and finally a fourth, at ETC Solparken Konsthall, where I collected all the works in one space during the summer of 2025. There is an element of ritual in the whole process, a way of cleansing oneself from the grief of a lost father, but also a way of understanding him and his motivations. I started with my own experience and tackled the physical legacy and the outer borders of the micronation Roma. It ended with me burning one of these works, a greatly enlarged copy of Queen Kristina's silver throne, performantly abdicating, and leaving my father's world behind me.

For the exhibition, Nils Claesson wrote an essay entitled Pappaexcorsism about the need to kill one's artist father through art in order to free oneself as an artist in one's own right. I have picked up the ashes to let something new begin, working with them in a ritualistic way, painting with them, handling them, trying to emotionally oust my father’s ghost.

ABOUT THE ARTIST