Artist statement.

Ever since I started working with art, I have searched for a mode of painting that felt right and consistent to me. I wanted the materials and methods I choosed, to form the expression of my work, rather than my personal style or abilities.
I also wanted my work to reflect what I mean painting is really about - perception. The fact that all we ever see is an image, a reflection on a surface that is interpreted by the mind. We never perceive the matters of the world as they are. Our experience of the world is always mediated.

I stopped using brushes, and in my pursuit to avoid working in layers - I wanted all the elements of the image on the same level at the surface - I started to work with filler as a material. It´s thick and ductile and it doesn´t shrink much when it dries. It has a raw tactile surface, almost like cement, but it´s softer and not as heavy.

Sometimes my work is abstract and conceptual regarding composition, sometimes I use words, and sometimes it´s figurative. Then it usually features archaic images such as sea, land and sky. I try to make it political, I want my work to have a relevance to the struggles of the world. Even when that is not the case, it is always personal and existential at heart.

Johan

Johan Söderström

Artworks by Johan Söderström

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#268 Letters by Johan Söderström

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#267 Supported By Norwegian Arts Council by Johan Söderström

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#264 Where Is The Heart by Johan Söderström

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#263 Represented by Johan Söderström

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#263 Empty Hollow by Johan Söderström

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#244 Shadow Government by Johan Söderström

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#243 Shadow Government by Johan Söderström

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#242 Shadow Government by Johan Söderström

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#241 Shadow Government by Johan Söderström

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#240 Shadow Government by Johan Söderström

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#239 Shadow Government by Johan Söderström

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#238 Shadow Government by Johan Söderström

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