CARL-OSKAR JONSSON

Born 1991

"I work with drawing, sculpture and text, moving within a system of images and associations that often describe a social structure of expectations, power or limitations. Here, different genres are combined with personal content and everyday routines. In my drawings, I keep coming back to depictions of sequences or scenes of action, while my sculptures usually reinforce and extend the space of the drawings. My texts are anecdotal misadventures, written from various perspectives and characters, and often convey the message that you can learn something from your misfortunes (albeit very little).

In the interaction between the written word and drawing, I attempt to build an assumption — that small events can make up entire chapters of our lives, and (if only for a second) lead us to engage with society's indistinct structures and complexities."

Master's degree 2019, Malmö Art Academy

Kayo Mpoyi Den Tänkande Handen teckning utställning

CARL-OSKAR JONSSON

Carl-Oskar Jonsson participates in the scholarship competition and exhibition with seven drawings created 2022–2024.

Charcoal. Charcoal and pastel on paper.
Charcoal, plywood, glass and vinyl. Charcoal, paper, stretcher frame, coffee and wax.

1. Block
2. Detail of Block
3. Meeting
4. Old letter
5. Tall grass 1–5
6. Tall grass 3
7. Tall grass 4


Click on the artworks in the slideshow to see full images, or scroll down. It can take a little while for the images to upload. Enlarge the drawings by choosing zoom or full page via the tool box by each image.

THE SELECTION COMMITTEE'S MOTIVATION:
Carl-Oskar Jonsson's charcoal-drawn world features a recurring space in between; a kind of theatrical aperture in which something appears to have just happened, or is about to happen. The hole in the smashed pane of glass, the bare ground surrounded by the trouser-clad legs, the solid grave from which a treasure chest is liberated. They are all drawn with the same resoluteness and skewed outlook. The man with his bristly haircut and moustache leans in readiness against the reeds, where something indistinct is brooding. It's dark and sooty, and yet titillatingly pleasurable.

Block
Charcoal, plywood, glass and vinyl, 2023. Original size 144 x 111 x 90 cm.
Detail of Block
Charcoal, plywood, glass and vinyl, 2023. Original size 144 x 111 x 90 cm.
Meeting
Charcoal, 2023. Original size 29.7 x 42 cm.
Old letter
Charcoal, paper, stretcher frame, coffee and wax, 2024. Original size 20 x 30 cm.
Tall grass 1-5
Charcoal and pastel on paper, 2022. Original size 50 x 70 cm.
Tall grass 3
Charcoal and pastel on paper, 2022. Original size 50 x 70 cm.
Tall grass 4
Charcoal and pastel on paper, 2022. Original size 50 x 70 cm.