J.G.Arvidsson’s practice is primarily based in the medium of painting. Regularly depicting people and figures, often shown in profile or silhouette, J.G.Arvidsson focuses on narratives which are made to be both open and manyfold.

Reoccurring motifs and elements can be found throughout his practice, establishing a referential and contextual framework for us, the viewer, to use as a lens through which we can navigate our own subjective interpretations concerning the works.

The resulting sense of purposeful—yet delicately subtle—ambiguity is echoed in J.G.Arvidsson’s use of techniques. Paint, canvas and oil stick among a variety of other media overlap on pieces of found and up-cycled wood. Applied thickly and scratched off in places, the layers, the seams and the physical processes of the work are left deliberately exposed. The result is an incredibly expansive depth of both material and narrative which can be felt in an especially tactile and tangible way. 

Exploring new ways of articulating semi-autobiographical themes as well as personal experiences and stories, J.G.Arvidsson’s initial inspiration is private. However, the intention imbued in the works is knowingly inclusive in its scope. Expansive themes centring on social issues and the realities of the human condition are brought to the forefront as J.G.Arvidsson crates a space through which his paintings are a means for us to engage with these ideas at our own pace, and with the added layer of our own lives and ways of understanding.

J.G.Arvidsson (b. 1989, Ethiopia) lives and works in Copenhagen. J.G.Arvidsson is currently finishing his Master of Fine Art at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art’s School of Painting. J.G.Arvidsson graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Art from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art in 2020. The gallery looks forward to opening our first solo with J.G.Arvidsson in August 2023.

carrie emberlyn