The work of artist Michael Johansson creates a beautiful order in chaos and absurdity.
August 12th, 2011
Swedish artist Michael Johansson makes pieces that exist “between deliberate exaggeration and seemingly accidental situation.”
Found objects are stacked and piled together in neat colour-coded constructions, in a way that’s at once efficient and somehow oddly disturbing.
“To pack, to stack, to pile, to put, to collect and organise, to fit and economise – these are the games most of us act out in our everyday lives,” says Johansson.
Box Office
“Displaying these actions in a gallery space brings together the “ordinariness of the domestic and the extraordinary and heightened purpose of the artwork in exhibition.”
27m3
Dagar och namn (Days and names)
400 nyanser av brunt (400 shades of brown)
A frequenter of second-hand markets, Johansson looks for doubles of discarded objects, finding pattern and coincidence in the most unexpected places. Much of his work reflects these ideas as well.
“I am intrigued by irregularities in daily life,” he says.
“Not those that appear when something extraordinary appears, but those that are created by an exaggerated form of regularity.
Rubik’s Kurve
Self-Contained
“Colours or patterns from 2 separate objects or environments concur, like when 2 people pass each other dressed in the exact same outfit.
Or when you are switching channels on your TV and realize that the same actor is playing two different roles on two different channels at the same time. Or that one day the parking lot contained only red cars.”
Strövtåg itid och rum (Strolls through time and space)
Packa Pappas Kappsäck (Pack Daddy’s Suitcases)
Platsspecifikt (Placed particularly)
Irregularities, coincidences, the familiar and unkown all work together to create an intriguing body of work.
Michael Johansson
michaeljohansson.com
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Sub-Zero and Wolf’s prestigious Kitchen Design Contest (KDC) has celebrated the very best in kitchen innovation and aesthetics for three decades now. Recognising premier kitchen design professionals from around the globe, the KDC facilitates innovation, style and functionality that pushes boundaries.
Marylou Cafaro’s first trendjournal sparked a powerful, decades-long movement in joinery designs and finishes which eventually saw Australian design develop its independence and characteristic style. Now, polytec offers all-new insights into the future of Australian design.
Channelling the enchanting ambience of the Caffè Greco in Rome, Budapest’s historic Gerbeaud, and Grossi Florentino in Melbourne, Ross Didier’s new collection evokes the designer’s affinity for café experience, while delivering refined seating for contemporary hospitality interiors.
Savage Design’s approach to understanding the relationship between design concepts and user experience, particularly with metalwork, transcends traditional boundaries, blending timeless craftsmanship with digital innovation to create enduring elegance in objects, furnishings, and door furniture.
Since 1988 Australian artists have exhibited at the world’s oldest and most prestigious biennale of international contemporary art, in a space designed by Phillip Cox and in 2015 we will see the opening of the $7.5million new pavilion designed by Melbourne based architects, Denton Corker Marshall.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Set to undergo a $60-million revitalisation, the National Gallery of Australia has announced the launch of a landscape design competition for its Sculpture Garden.
Dallas Rogers, Head of Urban Discipline at the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney, comments on the history of map-making in our cities.