MICHAEL JOHANSSON PAUSE
Stockholm, April 11– May 25, 2024
GSA Gallery is pleased to present Michael Johansson’s third solo exhibition at the gallery. The exhibition Pause showcases a new series of objects and sculptures.
Michael Johansson builds with furniture, kitchen utensils, drawers and folders, but also tackles larger objects such as containers, cars and caravans. He breathes new life into the already used and creates artworks that challenge expectations, crafting an artistic narrative where the familiar becomes extraordinary.
– It’s important that art speaks a language that successfully invites the viewer in. But it must also contain something surprising, something that distinguishes it from everyday life and how one usually perceives things. Otherwise, it’s not exciting, says Michael Johansson.*
Since Johansson began color-coordinating his works, large shelving systems in the studio have been a helpful tool, both as a visual library and as color-coordinated storage. After a contemplated studio move in Berlin that didn’t materialize, Michael Johansson faced an unfinished project. Part of the solution was to preliminarily relocate all studio contents – including the shelving systems – to his newly purchased house in Skåne. The shelf, once an organizational tool, now stands as a sculptural grand piece in the midst of the gallery, still providing insight into Johansson’s unique working methods and creative process. His sculptures, with distinct geometric forms and subtle color schemes, balance between order and chaos.
– It’s exciting to use things that have a history; you can see wear and tear and that the items have been through things. My work becomes a kind of repackaging of a previous life, says Michael Johansson.*
Johansson’s works become windows to both the everyday and the surprising, where viewers are encouraged to explore and reflect on the complexity of life and the depth of memories. Objects, once part of life’s trivialities, evoke memories and fantasies about their origins and previous owners.
Michael Johansson was born in 1975 in Trollhättan, Sweden, and is based in Berlin, Germany. Following his undergraduate studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Trondheim and graduate studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Malmö, he has enjoyed a progressively successful international career. A selection of his solo exhibitions includes Helsinki Contemporary in Helsinki (FI), Galerie Enrique Guererro in Mexico City (MX), The Flat – Massimo Carasi in Milan (IT), Kristinehamn Art Museum (SE), Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar (NL), Värmland Museum in Karlstad (SE), Gothenburg Museum of Art in Gothenburg (SE), Trollhättan Art Gallery (SE), Vigeland Museum in Oslo (NO), and Ystad Art Museum in Ystad (SE).
*Quote from www.dalslandskonstmuseum.se
