SUSANNE JOHANSSON
A CERTAIN KIND OF STILLNESS
"I find a certain kind of stillness in the encounter with the overlooked and simple. In the things we rarely give a greater meaning I find a sense of home:
The backlight on a September day when I recognize the thistles and the field scabious in the fields of Uppland.
A microcosmos that is a stump of an oak tree.
In the lowlands of Färnebofjärden a new synthesis of colors has been formed due to the light, the tree trunks, the earth and the leaves.
The many layers of time in a large oak tree that has become one with the surrounding landscape.
Behind everything and within all the knowledge that everything is temporary.
Among the dry leaves and grass, a quiet day in October, I sense a presence that is greater than our individual light."
JOHANSSON , in her poetic voice, both in paint and with words, urges the viewer to find the stillness to enter this subconscious world of nature, where we are mere visitors in the realm of animals, insects, and trees.
The repeated theme of a solitary figure immersed –engulfed, even—in a woodland places Johansson apart from the human-centered landscape one finds throughout art history (e.g. Caspar David Friedrich, Edward Hopper, Camille Corot). That feeling of a figure hidden, nearly imperceptible but not quite one with the forest, references fond memories from the artist’s childhood in a rural community in northern Sweden.
Growing up spending time in the woods was an experience of total freedom. Hunting with her father or exploring with her brother and sister, “I was never scared,” she says, of the wild animals in the landscape. “Yet somehow, we always felt as
though we were visitors in someone else’s space. Like when we were walking in the forest picking berries, and the big barn owl came. You know, don’t come too close.” She explains further, “The landscape wasn’t mine. The land belonged to the red robin in the tree. It’s almost a celebration of that feeling of being close to something but not.” Johansson’s landscape is one you may enter, and explore, but perhaps not fully embody. Susanne Johansson was born 1969 in Stråkanäs in the north of Sweden and now lives in Uppsala, Sweden. She was educated at the Royal University College of Fine Arts in Stockholm (1992–1997). Selected exhibitions include: Fullersta Gård, Huddinge, Sweden (2019), Uppsala Art Museum, 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), Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Stockholm, Sweden (2015, 2012, 2009, 2007, 2004, 2002 & 1999), Volta NY, New York, US, Fred [London] (2011), Fred [London], UK (2010), Konsthallen/ Kulturens Hus, Luleå, Sweden (2007), D’Ombra/The Shadow, Palazzo de Papesse, Centro Arte Contemporanea, Siena and MAN/Nuoro, Italy (2006-2007), Feigen Contemporary New York, US (2006), Galeria Monica De Cardenas, Milano, Italy (2005), Prague Biennale 2, Czech Republic (2005), M’ars Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia (2005).
“I think paintings are a bit more quiet. You can walk in. They’re not demanding that you listen. You can fill in your own story. It’s a bit like a mirror in a way. If it works, that is…”
Överträdelser
Trespasses ,
Tidstecken (Härjarö I) / Signs of Time (Härjarö I) , 2022
on linen
1/4 x 8 5/8 inches
Tidstecken (Härjarö II) / Signs of Time (Härjarö II) , 2022
on linen
6 1/4 x 8 5/8 inches
Tidstecken (Paret) / Signs of
(The
Tidstecken (Säva mosse) / Signs of Time (Säva Mire) , 2022
on linen
6 1/4 x 8 5/8 inches
Summer Shadows , 2020 Chalk pastel on paper
11 8/10 x 9/10 inches
Lowlands ,
7
Bland löven / Among the leaves , 2020 Watercolor and pastel on paper
8 1/4 x 11 5/8 inches
