Anders Johansson / Emma LaMorte

18 January - 9 February, 2020

Galleri Thomassen is proud to present two side-by-side solo exhibitions; Anders Johansson Okänd Avsändare (Unknown Sender) and Emma LaMorte Implosion.

Anders Johansson’s visual world is a blend of cultural clutter and phenomenon, morphed with highly personal narratives. In Okänd Avsändare, his first solo exhibition at Galleri Thomassen he will present dialogue works from three ongoing series of paintings, Mud Ladder, Niss and Okänd Avsändare.

Mud Ladder involves an invented character, who, as Johansson explains, ”walks alongside me/us, seen in the corner of your eye, presence felt, never in.” The character gathers information. The works in the Niss and Okänd Avsändare series fuse fragments of this information, cute and uncanny signs and symbols of our time/world that the Mud Ladder creature experiences. Johansson’s work raises questions about the romantic and melancholic relationship between artist and art making, about inner and outer worlds, and its mysterious powers. The paintings explore the protagonist in the tradition of self-portraiture while channeling spirits in art as a ghostly manifestation in a paranormal time and space.

Emma LaMorte’s artistic practice comprises textile works, performances, and text. She embraces patchwork as a medium that is both charged with cultural tradition and female experiences. Part of the works in Implosion, her first solo exhibition at Galleri Thomassen, are a direct result of becoming a mother. The challenge of combining art making with breastfeeding/child care and the urgency and love of both.

Alongside thoughts on motherhood and women’s labor, something else is also here, best described as a pleasure and pain fantasy of uncertain narratives, desires, and playfulness. The textile works combine motifs of couples, groups of people, a Medieval Sheela-na-gig, a black leather hand grasping a baby’s head, as well as pure abstract patchworks. The use of pattern and color simultaneously underscore being bound together yet functions as camouflage. There are things concealed, to be uncovered. In a way, the work reminds us that the ideals and expectations projected on to the domain of our fantasies do not translate fully.

Anders Johansson (b. 1979, Uppsala) lives and works in Stockholm. He holds an MFA from Valand School of Fine Arts (2011) and a BFA from Umeå konsthögskola (2009). Recent solo exhibitions include: Mud Ladder, Schiefe Zähne, Berlin (2018), Svensk konst 1/4, Loyal Gallery, Stockholm (2017). Recent group exhibitions include: Pioneertown, Coyote Sthlm, Stockholm (2019), Solna Centrum, The Loon, Toronto, CA (2018), Flat and Spatial (curated by Bea Marklund), Galleri Thomassen, Göteborg (2017).

Emma LaMorte (b. 1984, Victoria B.C., Canada) lives and works in Berlin. She holds an MFA from the Royal Institue of Art, Stockholm (2016), and a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art, Vancover, CA (2013). Recent solo exhibitions include: Someone put a mouth in her sock and whited out her eyes, Stadium, Berlin (2018), Close your eyes, it´s all pretend, Sikås Art Center (2018), Kyne Elementary, Ashley, Berlin (2017), 7 Veils, Galleri Mejan, Stockholm (2016). Recent group exhibitions include: Symphony of Fire, Sunset Terrace, Vancover, CA (2017), Cruising (curated by Daniel Linati), Mariella Viking Line, Stockholm (2017), The First Story Ever Told (curated by Moonspace Books), Galleri Krets, Malmö (2016).