Art talk: Viktor Rosdahl

sign up here (and claim your lunch if you sign up before 17.00 the day before the event).

The art of Viktor Rosdahl comes to life in the interface between the power of imagination and reflective imaging. He was awarded the Maria Bonnier Dahlin Foundation grant in 2009, and one of his early works, "Babylon by boat", was installed in the Bonnier Staircases at Sveavägen 65 earlier this term.

Looking back at his art at the time, he descibes it as dealing with themes of flight, fantasizing, travelling, and an escape from reality. That year he was heavliy influenced by the suburban riots in Malmö and observed that class-differences and segregation was still in the periphery of the social debate and news coverage.

Today he describes his process as such: "My point of departure for a work is likely translated into being subtly triggered by an image and not understanding why. May it be from the news, internet, art or general history, popular culture, a book cover, a political pamphlets peculiar graphic design, a certain LP sleeve or from my own photo archive, collected through walks in streets, mountains, attending demonstrations and so on...The ambiguity facing an image, painted or not, is what drives me onwards".

Viktor Rosdahl was born in 1980 and lives and works in Malmö. He studied at the Malmö Art Academy and at the Royal College of Art in Stockholm and graduated in 2007. His paintings and sculptures has been presented in numerous institutional contexts including Lunds konsthall, Moderna Muséet, GIBCA Röda Sten, Bonniers Konsthall and CAC Vilnius and displayed in solo shows at Johan Berggren Gallery, Galleri Thomassen, Bollnäs museum and konsthall and more.

Detail from Babylon By boat (2010) by Viktor Rosdahl. Photo: Ninhursag Tadaros.

Viktor Rosdahl in his studio. Courtesy of the artist.

Some of Rosdahl's more recent works:
pockets of hope – Tönnheim Gallery Madrid 2024. Viktorrosdahl.com