Richard Johansson, M/S Evigheten, 2024
Galleri Magnus Karlsson was founded in 1990, located for the first 7 years in Västerås, 100 km west of Stockholm. It gradually gained a reputation as one of the most interesting contemporary galleries in Sweden, moving to Stockholm in 1997. The focus of the gallery has been to present emerging artists from Sweden and establish long term relations and representations. The gallery is located on the ground floor of The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts on Fredsgatan 12.
During Stockholm Art Week, Richard Johansson will present his exhibition M/S Eternity in the inner room of the gallery.
Richard Johansson’s (Sweden, b. 1966) works could be excerpts from a road movie without end. They involve in a constant search for stories and encounters with characters waiting to be discovered. The journey goes beyond the highways and meanders into the darkness, ever closer to the core of existence. An imagery that tenderly depict memories, dreams and personal heroes. Richard works in a large variety of techniques and skillfully switches between different materials and expressions.
M/S Eternity, the title of the exhibition, is also a large sized sculpture in aluminum and wood, depicting a ship. The work was created in connection with the loss of his father and is both a tribute and a meditation on time, transition and memory. Surrounding the sculpture is a series of small paintings that reflect on the people and moments that shape us, even if they often go unnoticed. The works carry both melancholy and humor, much like life itself.
In the main gallery we present Bruno Knutman’s (Sweden, 1930–2017) exhibition Fjärrskådaren (The Remote viewer). Knutman is often described as one of Sweden’s first pop artists, yet his work carries a distinctive melancholy that sets it apart from the bright optimism typically associated with the genre. His imagery leans more towards a muted, dreamlike surrealism with mysterious and thought-provoking motives. A favourite among fellow artists, Knutman developed a visual language all his own, slightly naïve in style and layered with both clarity and ambiguity, offering a body of work that continues to fascinate and challenge. The exhibition presents a curated selection of paintings on paper made between 1979 and 2009.