Martin Jacobson

Martin Jacobson (b. 1978, Sweden) has become well-known for his theatrical motifs where diverse, visual references intermingle in his search for an image that feels as if it was discovered rather than made by him. He collects images for a personal archive that has expanded into thousands of analogue and digital files over the years, with the aim to gather images seemingly saturated with collective memories and references. These images are then composed into collages that serve as foundations for his paintings, where the familiar takes on a new shape and the unknown can still appear familiar, even giving the feeling of having returned home.

 

Jacobson has since his graduation from Malmö Art Academy (Malmö, Sweden) in 2005 exhibited at numerous solo and group exhibitions, both in Scandinavia and internationally. Recent projects include a set design with monumentally scaled paintings, originally made for a stage show and presented at Wanås Konst in Sweden, as well as an extensive solo exhibition at Vandalorum (Värnamo, Sweden). His works have also been shown in the exhibition Martin Jacobson: Excursions at the Nordic Watercolour Museum, (Skärhamn, Sweden), Martin Jacobson: The Traveller’s Guide to the Other Side at La Conservera (Murcia, Spain), and in the exhibition The Collectors, curated by Elmgreen & Dragset in the Danish Pavilion at the 2009 Venice Biennale.

 

“The paintings in this book are a selection of the works of the past decade. To me, they represent some kind of map of the explorations, wanderings, dead ends and dream trips of the past ten years. If I did not know better, I would probably imagine that such a book would even be able to give me a hint as to where I am headed. But it does not.” 

– Martin Jacobson