• portraits: courtesy of Kapital

    photography Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB

    Jorunn Hancke Øgstad: Art Is the Heartbeat of Society

    Written by Natalia Muntean

    To kick off Stockholm Art Week, we have asked several interesting people from the city’s art scene questions to explore their relationship to art and the city.

    Originally from Norway, Jorunn Hancke Øgstad is a contemporary artist whose work examines and questions the rhetoric of abstract art in paintings and sculptures. She employs, among other things, both traditional and non-traditional materials such as textile dye, epoxy, and plastic on unprepared canvases to examine the properties of these materials, imitating the processes of water painting, spray painting and printing. She draws inspiration from female contemporary artists and references art movements such as pop art and abstract expressionism.

    What inspired you to become an artist, and how has your artistic journey evolved?
    My path to becoming an artist has been rich and shaped by a variety of influences. Creativity was always my thing, sparked by my early days soaking up music. Early on I learned to make sense of abstract languages through playing the piano. As a kid, I dabbled in everything, music, writing, acting, and dancing. Initially, I figured filmmaking would be the perfect blend of my interests, but as I ventured down that road, I felt pulled towards art academies. They seemed less conventional, and their emphasis on freedom and non-hierarchical creative processes appealed to me.

    I spent years in my studio after graduating from the academy, trying out different things and putting in the hours to figure out my direction before sharing my work more widely. Eventually, things started to click. Having a kid played a role—I had to manage my time better, which meant less time second-guessing myself and more time creating. I began collaborating with the gallery VI, VII in Oslo back in 2019, and it's been a really interesting journey so far.

    What is your creative process like, and how do you approach developing new ideas and concepts for your work? 
    When it comes to painting, I like to have a rough plan in mind but also allow the materials to guide their own narrative and take me in unexpected directions. As for exhibitions, I take cues from the space and context itself and let that shape the concepts. My personal experiences also seep into my work, although those stories are mostly just for me.

    What role do you think art plays in society, and how do you see your work contributing to or challenging societal norms? 
    The big question! I believe art is essential – it's like the heartbeat of society, and inconceivable to imagine a world without culture. I've been giving a lot of thought lately to how art fits into societal change and the broader pushback against growing authoritarianism. While I don't think art has to be explicitly political to make a difference, I firmly believe that art, by its very nature, challenges authoritarian ideologies. However, there is this tricky dance with the commercial side of art, and we need to talk more about if and how art can effect change within the confines of a capitalist trading system.

    I place my faith in the power of inclusive communities rooted in humanistic values, the kind that you often find in art circles, and I draw inspiration from the collective wisdom of my peers. On a brighter note, when you dive into art, you're basically imagining what our society could or should look like, and the world definitely needs more of that. For me, there are some core values in art that are important, and we should protect and promote them.

    portraits: courtesy of Kapital

    photography Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB

  • Image courtsy the artist / Carl Kostyál

    Yves Scherer: “Being An Artist is about Showing up Every Day”

    Written by Natalia Muntean

    To kick off Stockholm Art Week, we have asked a number of interesting people from the city’s art scene questions to explore their relationship to art and the city.

    Born in Switzerland, Yves Scherer’s work explores identity through sculptures, lenticular prints, and installations that blend autobiographies, collective memories, and fan fiction, blurring the line between reality and virtuality. His art deals with questions of the self, celebrity, and mediated realities. Mainly working in sculpture and installation, he creates immersive environments that offer a romantic perspective on the self and everyday life.

    What is the story behind your exhibition during Stockholm Art Week?
    I’m presenting a group of lenticular works under the title “AS IT IS IN HEAVEN”. The works are a combination of personal photographs with appropriated images from a Mario Sorrenti book depicting Kate Moss when she was a young girl and his girlfriend. I hand-coloured these images and using a technology of my own development now present them in combination with flower photographs that I took on my analogue camera in my private life and travels.

    What inspired you to become an artist, and how has your artistic journey evolved?
    My first interest was in literature and books. Growing up in a small village, these things first opened up the wider world to me. After this, my interest in visual art developed in Berlin, professionalized a bit in London and now I think has matured in New York.

    What is your creative process like, and how do you approach developing new ideas and concepts for your work?
    I think it’s just about showing up every day and trying to do it better than the day before. My practice has always been quite broad so getting older I focus more on narrowing it down and refining things. With this, the threshold for starting new things has become higher also, it’s hard to do anything really well so you don’t want to spread it too thin.

    Are there any particular themes or subjects that consistently appear in your work, and if so, what draws you to them?
    I have some formal interests such as in figurative sculpture or a certain kind of painting, and in terms of content, I have long been interested in mixing public figures such as celebrities with experiences in my own life to create a sort of confusion of realities or fan fiction.

    Is there a Swedish artist who you find inspirational?
    I’m looking forward to visiting the Carl Eldhs museum and I like the young artist EvelinaHägglund.

    Carl Kostyál. YVES SCHERER​ Imagine (Face Kate)

    2024 Archival print, acrylic glass,

    lenticular lens and Dibond in artist frame with Glass ​

    160 x 120 cm (framed 163.5 x 123.5 cm)

    Carl Kostyál. Yves Scherer Imagine (Mountain Flowers)

    2024 Archival print, acrylic glass, lenticular lens and Dibond in artist frame with Glass

    160h x 120w cm 62.99h x 47.24w in

    Carl Kostyál. Yves Scherer Imagine (Mountain Flowers)

    2024 Archival print, acrylic glass, lenticular lens and Dibond in artist frame with Glass

    160h x 120w cm 62.99h x 47.24w in

  • Johanna Karlsson in her studio

    photography Thomas Karlsson

    Johanna Karlsson : “My Art Comes From a Personal Need to Express Myself”

    Written by Natalia Muntean

    To kick off Stockholm Art Week, we have asked a number of interesting people from the city’s art scene questions to explore their relationship to art and the city.

    Stockholm-based artist, Johanna Karlsson, creates dioramas depicting landscapes in a variety of different materials, including copper wire, silver wire, paper, textiles, pigment and plaster. She chooses to focus on the sculpture rather than the colours in her works, letting the materials speak for themselves. Karlsson creates precise depictions of nature, integrating cultural elements to form a landscape where personal interpretation fuses with natural science. Her works can be found in collections such as he Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sundsvall Museum in Sweden, and the Olbricht Collection in Germany. 

    What is the story behind your exhibition during Stockholm Art Week? 
    I have wanted to create reliefs for a long time. When I've made images, I've often wanted to add some other materials like paper pulp or sand. I enjoy it when the materials create shadows and texture. For these reliefs, I also used soldered details of copper wire and let them extend further from the surface. It’s a middle ground between the sculptures and images I've created before.

    What inspired you to become an artist, and how has your artistic journey evolved? 
    I've always made things with my hands; drawn and built with various materials. I still use many of the same materials as when I was young, such as paper, glue, threads and steel wire.

    What is your creative process like, and how do you approach developing new ideas and concepts for your work?
    I think it's a process that I just have to follow, even if it's with resistance and effort. It feels very much like one thing leads to another, that what I'm doing now builds on what I did before. It doesn't always get better, but each step might still have a purpose and be important in some way.

    What role do you think art plays in society, and how do you see your work contributing to or challenging societal norms?
    I’m certain that art is an essential part of society, but it is nothing that affects my working process. I don't think my art has a specific agenda or purpose. It is rather something that comes from a personal need to express myself. This does not mean that I am not interested in how the audience perceives and interprets what I do.

    Are there any particular themes or subjects that consistently appear in your work, and if so, what draws you to them?
    It's almost always nature that inspires me. Both the grand and the small, with all the details. It's difficult to know why one gets drawn to certain motifs, but I think it's some kind of atmosphere or a memory.

    Can you share a favourite spot in Stockholm where you go to find inspiration or recharge creatively? 
    Sometimes, when it's very difficult to get started working in the studio, I go to a library and sit and flip through books. It can be art books, biographies, poetry, or anything that gives new impressions. I also visit galleries and museums.

    Can you share a story about a specific neighbourhood in Stockholm that holds personal significance to you as an artist?
    I wander around where I live, formerly in Södermalm and now in Hökarängen and around Gullmarsplan by our allotment garden. I often look at slightly dull, unkempt places but where I still see something I find beautiful. In recent years, Högdalstoppen has been a favourite.

    Is there a Swedish artist who you find inspirational?
    There are many Swedish artists that inspire me now, but perhaps the most important was my grandfather, Algot. He had a furniture workshop, but in his later years, he began to draw. In the evenings, he sat in the workshop's lunchroom and made meticulous pencil drawings. I enjoyed visiting him there and seeing how the drawing grew day by day.

    What is your favourite bar or restaurant in Stockholm?
    I don't go out very often, but I enjoy having coffee at BAK in Hökarängen.

    Scene XXXVII, 2022
    Plaster, paper, pigment, metal wire, oak and artglass
    50 x 62 x 30 cm
    (JK2211)

    photography Nora Bencivenni, Galleri Magnus Karlsson

    Note I, 2022
    Relief, paper, pigment and metal wire on panel
    27x22x1.5 cm
    photography Nora Bencivenni, Gallery Magnus Karlsson

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