Mikael Sandblom

Lives and works in Meaford, ON, Canada

Artist statement

My work explores perception as an active process, using the landscape of Georgian Bay as both subject and catalyst. Waves and skies are not presented as static scenes but as unstable, shifting images that resist capture. As in nature, where clouds and water continually change, the visual field in these works slips away just as it seems to be grasped, reminding us that seeing is never complete. In one series, photographs of water waves are transformed into vertical line patterns, interlaced with multiple skies. Depending on focus, viewers may perceive the surface of water, or one of two skies, but never all at once. The work emphasizes the instability of perception, drawing attention to the way vision alternates and excludes, foregrounding the role of the mind in constructing what is seen. A second series extrudes wave patterns into three-dimensional structures that are cast in tinted resin. From a distance, a coherent surface appears; up close, this dissolves into vertical fragments and shifting depth. The viewer’s perception toggles between illusion and structure, exposing the act of seeing as a negotiation between signal and interpretation. By rooting these investigations in the natural environment of Georgian Bay, the works connect philosophical questions of perception with the lived experience of watching water and sky. They invite viewers to consider vision not as passive reception but as an ongoing construction, echoing the transience of the world itself.

Artwork