Johan Wahlström (Stockholm, Sweden 10/27/1959 -)


Exhibited by

About

A fifth-generation artist on his mother’s side, Johan nonetheless began his first creative direction into rock and roll music from a young age.

What followed was a long and successful career as a keyboardist and singer, touring with Ian Hunter, Graham Parker, Mick Ronson and many Scandinavian artists. However, after 18 years, the rock and roll life began to wear on him and Johan decided to let go and move to a small village in France and dedicated himself to painting for the following seven years.

A portion of that time under the tutelage of Swedish artist, Lennart Nystrom, Johan began to find his voice. The dark narrative paintings of heads and torsos were inspired by cryptic, often ironic social critiques that he collected on scraps of paper in his studio.

Johan now lives and works in Jersey City, NJ, USA. Beginning in 1998, Johan’s works have been exhibited across Europe and the USA in solo and group shows with artists the likes of Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, Santiago Sierra, Erwin Olaf, Picasso, Salvador Dali, Jake & Dinos Chapman, and David Salle.

Johan’s paintings are radical constructs that captivate our senses using nature’s tools, offering a liberating experience through their enchanting perceptual play of now light, now brilliant wavelengths measured before us in 2D.

Exhibition

JOHAN WAHLSTRÖM
Sweden

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2024 June - September
OMSA Gallery, “Mindfields of Color,” Ft. Lauderdale, FL Curated by Daniella Sforza

2024 March
Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary Art Fair, Palm Beach FL, USA (GR Gallery)

2024 January - March
The Swedish American Museum, Solo Exhibition, Chicago, USA

2023 October
Estampa Art Fair
Madrid, Spain (Wadström/Tönnhein Gallery)
Georges Berges Gallery, “What You See Is What You Get,"Solo Exhibition New York, USA

2023 September
Wadström/Tönnheim Gallery, “Connected To Nothing More,"Solo Exhibition
Marbella, Spain

2023 May
Volta Art Fair (Wadström/Tönnheim Gallery) New York, USA

2022 May
Gallery Ramfjord, “Connectivity” Solo Exhibition Oslo, Norway

March-May 2022
Masterpiece Fine Art Gallery, “Connectivity” Solo Exhibition, Dubai

March-May 2022
Masterpiece Fine Art Gallery, “Connectivity” Solo Exhibition, London, UK

2019 September
Gallery Ramfjord, “No Rules,"Solo Exhibition, Oslo, Norway

2019 June
Georges Berges Gallery, “Collisions,"Solo Exhibition, New York, USA
Ethan Cohen The KuBe, Beacon, New York, USA

2019 May-September
“From 1960s Celebrities Until Today's Social Media, From Warhol To Wahlström” Curated by
Paco Barragan, Two-man show

2018 December
Art Miami Fair, Ethan Cohen Gallery

2018 September
Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair, Ethan Cohen Gallery New York, USA

2018 May-September
Foundation Fernet-Branca Contemporary Art Museum,
“Collection David H. Broillet Genève” “40 ans de collection et un film documentaire de 60
min.”
Group Show, Among the artists; Miguel Barcelo, Jake & Dinos
Chapman, Olafur Eliasson, Robert Mapplethorpe, David Salle, Johan Wahlström, Saint
Louis/Alsace, France

2018 March-April
Georges Bergés Gallery, “Life Is Good,"Solo Exhibition New York, USA

2018 February
Robert Kananaj Gallery, “Realistic Abstraction,"Group Exhibition, Toronto, Canada

2017 June-July
Georges Bergés Gallery, Solo Exhibition, “Distorted Happiness," New York, USA

2017 November-December
Petra Lossen Gallery,Group Exhibition, “Political Poetical” curated by Paco
Barragan, Zurich, Switzerland.
Artists in the show: Erwin Olaf, Santiago Sierra, Pablo Picasso, Salvador
Dali and Johan Wahlström

2016 December
Centre Cultural Can Gruart, Group Exhibition
Girona, Spain

2016 October-November
WhiteBox NYC, Act Of Sedition, Group Exhibition, Curated by Raul Zamudio and Juan Puntes,
New York, USA

2016 March-May
BuBox, “Forever” curated by Gery Van Tendeloo and Jerome Jacobs,
Kortrijk, Belgium
Artists in the show: Gerhard Richter, Joseph Beuys, Jake & Dinos Chapman,
Gavin Turk and Johan Wahlström

2016 April-June
Castrum Peregrini, “Read My Lips” curated by Paco Barragán,
Amsterdam, Holland
Artists in the show: Shepard Fairey, Nicola Verlato, Ronald Ophuis, Nedko Solakov, Johan
Wahlström and Kepa Garraza

2016 April-July
Form/Space Atelier (artist run space), “House Of Lies” Solo Exhibition Seattle, USA

2016 May
WhiteBox NYC, “Let The Bidding Begin” (”Pay Per Inch”)
Performance by Johan Wahlström New York, USA

2015 June-August
Fondazione Opera Campana dei Caduti
“Human Rights,"Group Exhibition, Curated by Roberto Ronca, Rovereto, Trento, Italy

SELECTED COLLECTIONS
25 Senate Place (Real Estate), Jersey City, NJ, USA
400 Clairmont Urban Renewal (Real Estate), Jersey City, NJ, USA
A Kasteyeu State Museum, Kazakhstan
Bell of Peace Foundation, Italy
Corinne Stempfer Collection, Paris, France
David Brolliet Collection, Geneva, Switzerland
Doron Klinghofer, AMBA, London, UK
Eileen S Kaminsky Family Foundation, USA
Ethan Cohen Family Collection, New York, USA
Fondazione Opera Campanda dei Caduti, Italy
Hong Gyu Shin Collection, New York, USA
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY, USA
Ivar Jacobson Family Collection, Verbier, Switzerland
Jens Peter Rask Collection, Denmark
Jerome Jacobs/Aeroplastics Gallery Collection, Brussels, Belgium
Liza Marklund Family Collection, Stockholm, Sweden
Macura Museum, Serbia
Mana Contemporary Collection, Jersey City/Miami, USA
Marie Taittinger Collection, Belgium/France
Mattias Jonsson Family Collection, Marbella, Spain
Mona Sahlin Collection, Stockholm, Sweden
National Gallery, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Peter Rothschild Collection, New York, USA
Spazio-Tempo Collection, Italy
Swedish Finn Historical Society, Seattle, WA, USA
Swedish-American Museum, Chicago, IL, USA
The Modern Museum Of Art, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Thomas Bodstrom Family Collection, Stockholm, Sweden

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

White Hot Magazine, USA
Art Critical, USA
Paper Magazine, USA
Brooklyn Rail, USA
Artnet, USA
Huffington Post, USA
Art Pulse Magazine, USA
Forbes Magazine, USA
TV4 National Television, Sweden

Work Selection

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