Martin Jacobson - See the Sights: Paris
Andréhn-Schiptjenko has the pleasure of inviting you to the opening of Martin Jacobson’s first solo- exhibition in France, taking place in our Paris gallery on Friday 29 May between 6-8 pm in presence of the artist. The opening is part of the Paris Gallery Weekend Programme and the gallery will have extended opening hours throughout the weekend.
Dreams, myths, archetypal images and an intuitive faith in painting form the foundation of Martin Jacobson’s artistic practice. His paintings function as portals into a shared human consciousness, spaces where time dissolves and collective experiences resurface. Through an associative visual language, Jacobson explores how we perceive ourselves in relation to the world, creating works that feel both deeply personal and universally familiar.
Starting from existing imagery—sunsets, forests, mythological figures, and architectural forms—Jacobson recombines these motifs into new compositions. The result is a visual paradox: images that appear at once old and new, familiar yet strangely distant. His use of saturated, often unreal, colour intensifies this effect, transforming the paintings into concentrated fields of light, emotion, and cultural reference. Within these scenographic worlds, reminiscent of theatrical stages, fiction and reality merge, allowing beauty to emerge as both seductive and unsettling.
At the core of Jacobson’s process lies a dialogue between artist and image. Rather than “creating” in a conventional sense, he describes his method as one of discovery—uncovering images that seem to already exist beneath the surface. His compositions often begin with collages derived from an extensive archive of historical imagery, including early 20th-century postcards and illustrated theatre magazines. These fragments are reassembled into dreamlike scenes that resemble “postcards from a dream,” where the boundaries between the tangible and the imagined dissolve.
With the new body of work the element of discovery is almost literal as Jacobson uses found paintings and frames to that he modifies and paints over to varying degrees, thus to some extent shifting focus from individual identity to archetype. In this way, his paintings invite viewers to project their own experiences onto the imagery, creating moments of recognition without fixed meaning.
Jacobson’s work can be understood as a continuous exploration of the tension between the known and the unknown. His imagery evokes what Sigmund Freud described as the heimlich and unheimlich—the simultaneously familiar and uncanny. By blending historical references with bold colour and imaginative reconstruction, he creates immersive visual spaces that encourage reflection, curiosity, and emotional resonance.
Ultimately, Martin Jacobson’s paintings are not narratives to be decoded but experiences to be entered. They offer viewers a space to wander between memory and imagination, past and present, where meaning remains open, fluid, and deeply human.
Born in 1978 in Sweden, Jacobson graduated from Malmö Art Academy in 2005 and has since then been represented by Andréhn-Schiptjenko and exhibited widely across Scandinavia and internationally. His work has appeared in major exhibitions such as Excursions at the Nordic Watercolour Museum and The Traveller’s Guide to the Other Side in Spain, as well as in The Collectors at the 2009 Venice Biennale, curated by Elmgreen & Dragset. In addition, Jacobson has also created large-scale scenographic paintings for stage productions, further emphasising the theatrical dimension of his work.
