What kind of egg seems to be hidden in a grey bag? Or is it in fact a root system with carefully sprouting vegetation that has taken off?
Jonatan Pihlgren’s world often depicts man’s way through life, groping and confused in a chaotic world around him. Motifs from everyday life meet whims, dreams and fantasies.
The artist himself says that he is exploring different states of consciousness and that everything that meets within him, in his mental experiences, becomes an encounter on the canvas. His main source of inspiration is the people in his life – family and friends – but even the animals play a prominent part. Through his painterly storytelling we come closer to the personal plane where he seeks to create paintings that “haunt” and have lives of their own. We are drawn into a familiar yet twisted reality.
"There should not be any resistance when accessing my work.”
Jonatan Pihlgren’s work speaks directly to the viewer’s feelings. “There should not be any resistance when accessing my work,” he says, meaning that what’s most important is for the work to spark a dialogue with the viewer.
The three paintings Ägg [Egg], Riddare [Knight] and Självporträtt [Self-Portrait] were placed in the offices of the Police Authority Malmö in 2023.
Artist’s Biography Jonatan Pihlgren
Jonatan Pihlgren (b. 1993) lives and works in Gothenburg. He obtained a masters in fine arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Umeå (2021). Pihlgren’s primary medium is painting but he also works in sculpture and performance. In 2023 he was awarded the Beckers Art Award and had a solo exhibition at Färgfabriken and Höganäs Museum.
