Jonatan Pihlgren receives Beckers Art Award 2023

Färgfabriken congratulates Jonatan Pihlgren (b. 1993) who receives Beckers Art Award this year! Jonatan Pihlgren graduated from Umeå Academy of Fine Arts in 2021 and has already exhibited his art several times, most recently at Galleri 54 in his hometown Gothenburg. In addition to a grant of 200,000 SEK the scholarship also comes with an exhibition in the Färgfabriken’s main hall this spring.

Jonatan Pihlgren creates expressive images where motifs from everyday life meet dreams and fantasies. He describes his art as emotionally focused and a little dramatic. He likes to start from a motif that triggers strong emotions in himself and work intuitively and freely from there:

You could say I explore different states of mind and try to investigate and expand the ones I find interesting, some dark, some light. Everything that appears in my mental experience, appears on the canvas.

The main source of inspiration is the people and animals that surround him: family, friends and pets. His focus is painting, but Jonatan Pihlgren also makes sculptures and performance art. The important thing is that the feeling communicates directly with the viewer, not medium in itself. There should be no resistance getting into my art, he underlines.

Being awarded Beckers Art Award is very honorable, he says:

It enables me to focus on my art work over a longer period of time. It is also great to be able to exhibit so many works together in such a large and beautiful room as Färgfabriken´s main hall.

The scholarship exhibition at Färgfabriken is shown between April 22 and June 11. During  2023, Jonatan Pihlgren will also present an exhibition at Höganäs museum, as well as participate at the Market Art Fair in Stockholm in May together with Coulisse Gallery.

Read the Jury’s statement!

Förtrollningen by Jonatan Pihlgren. Photo: Fredrik Åkum.

Top picture: Portrait of the artist in his studio. Photo: Fredrik Åkum.