EMMA ÅVALL
b. 1990, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Education
2019-21 MFA, HDK-Valand Academy of Fine Arts, Gothenburg
2015-18 BFA, Bergen Academy of Art & Design, Bergen
2013 -2014 Art History & Visual Studies, basic course, Gothenburg University
2011-13 Dômen Konstskola, 2-year diploma, Painting, Gothenburg

Solo exhibitions
2023 Paint Tube Baby or: a Ribcage Holding Its Breath, Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg
2023 Motpol, Kulturkvarteret Pedagogien, Hjo
2022 Fragmented Architecture of a Portrait, Domeij Gallery, Stockholm
2022 Rapid Alterations in Slow Motion, Curated by Ebba de Faire, Sotheby’s, Stockholm
2021 The Controlled Hallucinations of a Fragmented Gaze, POM Gallery, Mariefred
2020 Negative Spaces, Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg
2018 Manipulations, POM Gallery, Mariefred
2017 The Glitch & The Chameleon, Galleri Fisk, Bergen
2013 Fragment, Frilagret, Gothenburg

Selected group exhibitions
2024 Winter Show, Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg
2023 Från svartvitt till färgrikt, Dalarnas Museum, Falun
2023 Spring Break, Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg
2021 A Swedish Smorgasbord (curated by Ebba de Faire & Joakim Ödlund), Sotheby’s, Stockholm
2021 Quantum Entanglement, Sockerbruket 22, Gothenburg
2021 Clustering Illusions Through Uncommon Patterns, HDK-Valand MFA Degree show in collaboration with Göteborgs Konsthall, various sites
2021 GAZE, Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg
2019 100!, Galleri CC, Malmö
2019 Portrait Now!, Ljungbergmuséet, Ljungby
2019 Portrait Now! The Carlsberg Foundation's Nordic Portrait Award, Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød, Denmark
2018 Now here Nowhere (BFA degree show), Bergen Academy of Art, Bergen
2017 Liljevalchs Vårsalong, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm
2016 Moving Art Project, Sweden (touring 10 cities, March-May)
2015 Bostadspolitisk Vernissage, Röda Sten Konsthall, Gothenburg
2014 Liljevalchs Vårsalong, Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm
2013 Stöd En Syster, UN Women, Röda Sten Konsthall, Gothenburg

Public commissions
2024 Mural painting for ArtMadeThis/Vasakronan
2016 Mural painting for ArtMadeThis/Vasakronan

Grants
2022 Helge Ax:son Johnsons stiftelse
2022 One-year working grant, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee
2018 Stiftelsen Otto och Charlotte Mannheimers fond
2017 Anna Whitlocks Minnesfond
2013 K-peng, Kultur Ungdom, Västra Götalandsregionen

Lectures/Teaching etc
2023 Guest teacher, Dômen Konstskola
2022 Lecture, Kulturkvarteret Pedagogien, Hjo
2022 Jury member for Skaraborgssalongen
2021 Guest teacher, Dômen Konstskola

Represented
Vellinge Kommun
Sundbyberg Kommun
Jönköping Kommun
Falkenbergs Kommun
Luleå Kommun
Västra Götalandsregion
Region Gävleborg
Region Sörmland
Region Jämtland Härjedalen
Region Dalarna
Region Uppsala
Region Skåne
Mölndal Stad
Various private collections in Sweden, Norway & USA
   
Selected press
GP (210425) - “Skapade konst ur frustration och besvikelse” (interview)
Sveriges Radio, Ekot (210423) - “Studenter fick tänka nytt inför konstutställning” (radio interview)
Kunstkritikk (210511) - “Skingrade för vinden” (review)
Hallands Nyheter (170128) - “Från Blixtorp till finsalongerna” (interview)

artist statement

In my artistic work, I engage with the ability of painting to depict dimensions of life in something flat and static. The physical flatness of the paintings creates a tension against the supposed life and space of the subject. I create works in an effort to capture and represent tactility through the combination of light, materiality, and details. I actively work to make the images flow out of the frame and take on a more spatial sense.

The work revolves around the slowness of painting. The time-consuming medium is put in contrast to the rapid and photographic when information is moved from one medium to another. I want the paintings to communicate an understanding of the idea that they are in fact paintings. “It's only necessary to press two keys to create the negative of a picture and one can just as quickly restore the picture to its original state. In painting, such rapid alterations are not possible”, said painter Albert Oehlen in an interview. A painting that, like a chameleon, tries to disguise itself as a photograph (or as real life, for that matter) is, after all, still a painting.

Additionally the paintings are centered around what happens to the gaze when looking at an image that in some way is disrupted or unconventionally constructed. I frequently incorporates depictions of untamed patterns and vintage fabrics into paintings. It's reminiscent of following a thread; weaving together disparate elements. The observing gaze should be a participatory action. A transitory connection should be created between bodies of flesh and bodies of paint; as if standing before old ruins observing the fragmented architecture and imagining what it once might have looked like in its completeness.