Michael Johansson

Born in Sweden in 1975, Michael Johansson, works with ordinary, recognisable objects, but in a way that departs from the ordinary. He transforms them into precisely stacked rectangular shapes, connected to a particular place, where he isolates them from their original purpose by transforming them into catalysts for new meanings. Objects found within the same colour range are reconstructed into a homogeneous image of a fictitious life, reinforced by our collective imaginary: the compressed landscape of a past time. This new way separates objects from their use and invites us into a shared space where the familiar meets the unfamiliar. Moreover, fascinated by the assemblages of objects from children’s games, Johansson transforms everyday objects into models of themselves. These life-size kits offer an innovative take on today’s ways of life: showing their function and stripping away their functionality.

After his studies at the Art Academy Trondheim, Norway, and the Kunsthochschule Berlin Weissensee, Germany, Johansson completed his MA at the Art Academy Malmö, Sweden, 2005. Since then, he has participated in several residencies and has exhibited frequently both in and outside Sweden. Some of his most important solo exhibitions include Museum Voorlinden (NL), Galleri Andersson / Sandström (SE), Göteborg Art Museum (SE), Helsinki Contemporary (FI), Ystads Art Museum (SE) and Vigeland-museet (NO), and group exhibitions at Malmö Art Museum (SE), Bergen Art Museum (NO), Aeroplastics (BE), Royal British Society of Sculptors (UK), Galerie Filomena Soares (PT), Moscow Museum of Modern Art (UK) and Meessen de Clercq (SER).

Lives and works in Berlin, Germany.