Johan Carlsson Ström. Photo: Konrad Söderberg
Johan Carlsson Ström receives the award for his work that explores familiar environments that shift between fiction and reality, drawing on sources such as film stills, archive images, crime scene models and doll’s houses.
“The award is real confidence boost – with the honour and opportunity to exhibit, and the prize money that enables me to work with painting full time,” says Johan Carlsson Ström. “I feel that have big shoes to fill, even though the Beckers Art Award jury thinks I’ve already filled them.”
Through the medium of painting, Johan Carlsson Ström rediscovers recognisable environments, with the perception alternating between fiction and reality-based reference points, giving them a distinct painterly style. Images and places depicted are imbued with a certain aura, as if something significant has taken place. A significant occurrence is evident at a crime scene, while the static environment of a doll’s house depicts a frozen world, which creates a sense of wonder, drawing us into the artist’s primal fascination with subject and place.
Johan Carlsson Ström exploits the physical, flexible properties of paint. He works with and manipulates it as a material to achieve both abstract and figurative effects. He employs a subdued colour palette, forcing us to sharpen our gaze and senses to penetrate the intuitively applied elements. The choice of subjects as a kind of narrative collage gives us access to a visual world that the artist appears to model from the varied constituent components of the paint. The refined layers of paint in the pictures are transformed into portraits with a lingering presence.
The exhibition at Färgfabriken, Stockholm, runs from 31 January to 15 March. The exhibition will then relocate to KKAM in Höganäs where it will be open between 7 May and 7 June.
Born in 1985, Johan Carlsson Ström is a Swedish artist from Halmstad, currently based in Stockholm. He studied at Markaryds Folkhögskola (2003–2004), Dômen Art School (2019–2020) and the Gerlesborg School of Fine Art (2020–2021), earning a bachelor’s degree in fine art from HDK-Valand in 2024.
The Beckers Art Award was established in 1987 and has identified and supported many young talented artists on the brink of a breakthrough in their careers. The selected artist receives SEK 200,000 and solo exhibitions at Färgfabriken in Stockholm and KKAM in Höganäs.
Read about the Award and the artist on Färgfabriken's website.
