Disconnecting #46, 30x40in, Acrylic on canvas

“The current president tweeting in his office while being disconnected from Us the people.”

Bail Out No.4, 36x48in, Acrylic, Urethane, Color Pigments on Canvas

“The pandemic has a major consequence on the world economy including traveling.”

Is There Anybody Out There, 52x56in, Urethane and color pigments on canvas

“You, me, us, we the audience watching what is going on asking our self’s who to turn to in these dark times.”

Herd Immunity, 60x60in, Urethane and color pigments on canvas

“My country of origin tried herd immunity during the pandemic and failed.”

A Glimpse Of Hope, 79x79in, Acrylic on Canvas

“Even in the darkest times there is a glimpse of hope if we look for it.”

Turmoil, 62x54in, Urethane and color pigments on canvas

“Painted about the Turmoil in USA During the Pandemic, Racial Issues, Divided Country and Much More”

Johan Wahlstrom from Stockholm, Sweden is one of today’s brightest artists who is making a conscious effort to describe the social political landscape of our contemporary world.

Johan Wahlstrom’s ironic series Social Life gives a perfect sense both from a conceptual as well as a formal point of view of this estrangement. He is a magnificent observer of our social life.

He is a fifth-generation artist on his mother’s side. Though art was in his blood, his first creative direction was rock and roll, where he had a successful and long career as a keyboard player and singer, touring with Ian Hunter, Graham Parker, Mick Ronson and many Scandinavian artists. After 18 years, the rock and roll life caught up with him. Wahlstrom moved to a small village in France where he did nothing but paint for seven years, part of that time under the tutelage of Swedish artist, Lennart Nystrom. Wahlstrom’s dark narrative paintings of heads and torsos are inspired by cryptic, often ironic social critiques that he collects on scraps of paper in his studio. Wahlstrom lives and works in Jersey City, NJ, USA.

His works have been exhibited since 1998 across Europe and the USA in solo shows and group shows with artists like Andy Warhol, AI Weiwei, Gerhard Richter, Santiago Sierra, Erwin Olaf, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Jake & Dinos Chapman, and David Salle.

Image and Text Courtesy of the Artist.

Edited by Sue and Emily/CAFA ART INFO