BIOGRAPHY

Working in both clay and bronze Ojanen's sculptures are intuitive in their making. Starting with the shape of the head, Ojanen gradually begins to prise each character's features from the material, building and experimenting until a unique, individual personality and voice is brought to the fore. A seemingly never-ending array of peculiar noses, eyes and mouths are used that, little by little, evolve in ever-more surreal directions. Ears can function like arms, cheeks begin to stretch and flop, full human lips morph into duckbills and elongated noses sprout from their faces creating an imaginary world where anything seems possible. Ojanen's drawings develop in much the same intuitive organic way as his sculptural works, with the artist using charcoal and pastel as a medium for this exhibition and applying colour to these for the first time

Joakim Ojanen (b.1985, Sweden) lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. Ojanen completed his MFA at Konstfack, Stockholm in 2014. Selected exhibitions include Circle of Life, AISHONANZUKA, Hongkong (2023); Snake Pit, The Hole NYC, USA (2019); Second meeting is always a bit tricky, last time was so spontaneous and easy, now there’s all these expectations and I’m not so good with social responsibility, Ruttkowski;68, Paris, France (2019); Where do we go from here?, Christian Larsen, Stockholm, Sweden (2018); Year of the Dog, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, USA (2018); Anthropocene, Ruttkowski;68, Cologne, Germany (2017);  Joakim Ojanen and Ryan Travis Christian, The Hole NYC, USA (2017); Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale, South Korea (2017); Interrupted Boredom, Lefevbre & Fils, Paris, France (2017); KARNEVAL, Gustavsbergs Konsthall, Gustavsberg, Sweden (2016); Swedish Art Now!, Sven Harrys Konstmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden; Ebelingmuseet, Torshälla Eskilstuna, Sweden (2016); Konsthallen Passagen, Linköping, Sweden (2016); Powerful Babies: The Impact of Keith Haring, Spritmuseum, Stockholm Sweden (2015-16); The Bries Space, Antwerp, Belgium (2015). In 2018, Ojanen was the focus of features in the Los Angeles Times, Paper Magazine and Juxtapoz Magazine and Orosdi Back published a book on Ojanen's practice as part of their ongoing Konstpocket series. Ojanen's work can be found in many public and private collections including Art Institute of Chicago, US; Colección Solo, Madrid, Spain; Västerås Art Museum, Sweden;  The Ryerson & Burnham Libraries; Frans Masereel Centrum, Belgium and Åberg Museum, Bålsta, Sweden.

“I think my work is some sort of universe, but I don’t have any rules or narrative for it. I think it’s quite close to the world we live in, but more honest. It’s a place where people can show their true feelings and don’t hide behind a facade.”

DRAWING ATTENTION, 2020

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?, 2018