Photo by Peter Diamond
Erik Johansson at the American Swedish Institute
Erik Johansson at the American Swedish Institute
What would it look like if a sheep's wool turned into a cloud, or if an island lived on top of a fish? What about a road that rises up from the ground and splits in half, or water that recedes and breaks onto a shore like shattered glass? These are just a few of the surrealist images that Swedish photographer Erik Johansson conjures in his mind.
Courtesy of the American Swedish Institute
"Fishy Island" by Erik Johansson
"Fishy Island" by Erik Johansson
From now through April, Johansson’s imaginative and mind-bending photo manipulations will be on display at the American Swedish Institute, which includes nearly 30 of his works and seven never before seen pieces. The first in a 2019 series called "Shift" at the institute, they are also hosting the work of Stuart Klipper, whose photographs document the aftershock of Chernobyl and its transformation of Sweden’s environment.
“This year is our year of shift, but also shift looking at the environment, nature, and climate change,” Karen Nelson, a representative for the institute said. “We wanted to invite artists who reflect on that aspect, to people like Erik who are thoughtful of nature and the things that impact it.”
Growing up on a pig farm in rural Sweden, the landscape Johansson was raised in has become inseparable from his images, which are at once nostalgic of his childhood and contemplative about the Earth’s future.
“A lot of the places that you see in my work are photographed within just a couple of miles from where I grew up,” Johansson said. “All of these ideas go in different directions, like different worlds in a way, but I somehow try to bring it all together by photographing all the material in a similar environment.”
Johansson plays with light and perspective to blend his photographs together in a realistic way, questioning the viewer’s perception of reality. Looking at his images, humans and signs of their presence are repeatedly contrasted with how he sanctifies nature--a thematic throughline to this exhibition. Previously, Johansson was awarded nature photographer of the year in 2015 by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, or Naturvårdsverket.
Courtesy of the American Swedish Institute
"Cut and Fold" by Erik Johansson
"Cut and Fold" by Erik Johansson
“Usually an idea is not born in an instance, it’s just more small little things that I come up with,” Johansson said. “As soon as I think of the thing I find interesting I try to sketch it down, come back to it, and develop it into a full idea.”
Surrealist painters like Salvador Dali, René Magritte, and Rob Gonsalves have influenced the direction of Johansson’s dreamlike art, while ideas come to him from looking out a bus or train window for inspiration. Starting with a sketch of his idea, his images are only composed of photos that he shot himself.
“The photographs are almost like the paint to me,” Johansson says, “and the computer is the canvas.”
Courtesy of the American Swedish Institute
"Demand and Supply" by Erik Johansson
"Demand and Supply" by Erik Johansson
Juggling multiple projects can cause his photo manipulations to take weeks--some even years--to complete. In Photoshop, he’ll start progress on one image, stop, and return to it after he’s had time to process what he wants the end result to look like, using hundreds of layers until the realistic illusion is perfected. His first digital camera, combined with his discovery of photo manipulation software in the early ‘00s, led him to discover his medium of choice.
“I like drawing, but I couldn’t do it as realistic as I wanted it,” Johansson said. “But by manipulating photographs, they are by definition the reality I wanted to change.”
And while it is his first time in Minnesota, Johansson hopes to take plenty of photos that might end up in future projects while he’s here.
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Courtesy of the American Swedish Institute
"Expecting Winter" by Erik Johansson
"Expecting Winter" by Erik Johansson
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Courtesy of the American Swedish Institute
"Impact" by Erik Johansson
"Impact" by Erik Johansson
