Susanne Johansson: The Unanswered Question, Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Stockholm
Sat 1 Feb 2025 to Sat 8 Mar 2025
Fredsgatan 12, 111 52 Stockholm
Tue-Fri 12-5pm, Sat 12-4pm
Susanne Johansson’s relationship to nature is both on a concrete and an idea-based, poetic level in her work. The prosaic motives of an easily recognizable and relatable environment are repeated and deepen in content through time and presence. A meticulously small section is condensed into something grand and fundamental. Often painted with a fluid directness and a sense of air and light, but also with a sooty and subdued harshness that emphasizes a more serious mission. The paintings shift between the familiar and the unfamiliar, between memories, associations and something more abstract. A variety of moments and events that can be difficult to formulate or capture. A hare that quietly listens among the stubble in the field and the solitary bullfinch in the maple tree behind the studio. The neighbour’s green shed as a portal to another reality. The large rock and the uprooted tree with its microcosm.
Susanne Johansson was born outside Kalix in northern Sweden and spend a lot of time in the forests and fields growing up. For much of her life she has lived and worked in the countryside in close proximity to nature. After studies at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm (1992–1997), she gained great recognition for her expressive and suggestive paintings. At the time, the focus was often on the figures, between layers of colours in compositions filled with history, both personal and collective memories. A few years later, landscapes began to emerge into her imagery, and in recent years they have almost completely dominated her paintings. In her most recent exhibition, human figures disappeared completely, replaced in some cases by birds and other animals.
In her works, Johansson returns to fascinations from her childhood, the world that exists in the seemingly insignificant. From these recurrent motifs emerges a low-key narrative that provides no answers. A raven lands very close, the snow and the light carries eons of time beyond comprehension. At the edge of the river, in a chaos of branches and roots, the kingfisher sits and looks down into the water. The tranquil rhythm of time in the movement of the water. Amongst the muted tones, there is something that makes itself known and is familiar. The kingfisher’s blue plumage like an exclamation mark.
In between the trees, the light filters down into the mirror of the wetland. I have been here before and lost track of time. Here I have met myself in different versions. And my friend, the unanswered question.
- Susanne Johansson
Susanne Johansson was born 1969 in Stråkanäs outside of Kalix, Sweden and lives and works in Uppsala, Sweden. Education at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, Sweden (1992–1997). Selected exhibitions: Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson Hole, US (2022), Turn Gallery, New York, US (2022), Hedvig Eleonora Church, Stockholm, Sweden (2021), Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Stockholm, Sweden (2021, 2015, 2012, 2009, 2007, 2004, 2002 & 1999), Fullersta Gård, Huddinge, Sweden (2019), Uppsala konstmuseum, Sweden (2018), Trafo Kunsthal, Norway (2018), Galleri Ping-Pong, Malmö, Sweden (2018), Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Stockholm, Sweden, w. Johanna Karlsson and Petra Lindholm (2017), Hellvi Kännungs, Gotland, Sweden (2014), Volta NY, New York, US, Fred [London] (2011), Fred [London], UK (2010), Konsthallen/Kulturens Hus, Luleå, Sweden (2007), D’Ombra/The Shadow, Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena and MAN, Nuoro, Italy (2006–2007), Feigen Contemporary New York, US (2006), Galeria Monica De Cardenas, Milan, Italy (2005), Prague Biennale 2, Czech Republic (2005), M’ARS Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia (2005).
