In his precisely composed photographs of idyllic landscapes, abandoned peripheries, and urban environments, Gerry Johansson visualizes a phenomenon recognized as an abstract concept that is difficult to grasp – culture. In doing so, he often portrays everyday objects and sceneries in his black-and-white photographs, which often go unnoticed by the wandering eye. The social-historical approach reveals cultural structures and hidden levels of meaning that can only be deciphered in the deeper layers of what is shown. The cultural and visual differences between the landscapes portrayed, such as Mongolian Ulan Bator or Swedish Kvidinge, are unmistakable. Johansson’s idiosyncratic visual language aesthetically connects the places and allows the viewer to decode the cultural differences between the landscapes. As an encyclopedia of his travels, the photographs reflect the local and national history of the landscapes portrayed and connect the different places aesthetically and visually.

Johan Röing works predominately with the material wood. His sculptures emerge from a processual intuition in an ablative procedure. In recent years, his sculptures have increasingly developed from figurative works to a higher degree of abstraction and are reminiscent in their formal and pictorial language of artworks by Die Neuen Wilden, who emerged in Germany in the 1980s. His virtuoso handling of the organic material wood and the increasing abstraction always lend the sculptures something archaic and mysterious. At the same time, his work is in a constant process of change and transformation. From time to time, the sculptor returns to earlier works by reconsidering older sculptures and then reworking them. In his recent works, Röing is working and experimenting with the material glass and presents his glass sculptures for the first time in the group exhibition.

Gerry Johansson (*1945) studied graphic design at the School of Design and Crafts in Gothenburg and worked as a graphic designer for several years before turning to photography in the mid-1980s. His photographs have been published in more than 30 publications, including American Winter (2018), Tokyo (2016), Antarctic (2014), Germany (2012), Sweden (2005), and America (1998). Johanssons‘ works have been presented in numerous exhibitions internationally, including Spazio Labo in Bologna (2020), ICO Foundation in Madrid (2019), Museum of Modern Art in Borås (2019), MiCamera in Milan (2019), Lothringer13 Halle in Munich (2019) and Kunsthalle Rostock (2018). He is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the Lars Tunbjörk Prize (2019) and the Skåne Kulturpris (2011).

Johan Röing (*1958) was born in Malmö and spent his childhood in Germany. He studied among others with Tony Cragg at the State Art Academy in Düsseldorf from 1979 to 1986. He returned to Sweden in 1996 and now lives in Fuglie on Söderslatt as well as in Malmö. His works have been presented in numerous exhibitions, including Trelleborgs Museum (2020), Kunsthalle Falsterbo Strandbad (2020), Moderna Museet Malmö (2019), Olseröds Konsthall (2018).