ABOUT THE WORK
I paint the way a photograph develops in the darkroom: slowly, layer by layer, letting what is hidden rise to the surface. As a child, I spent hours in the darkroom with my father, watching images appear in trays of chemicals. That experience never left me. Today I work with painting, but the logic is the same. Light, chemistry, material and time do much of the work, and patience is part of the method.
My paintings grow through layers of pigment and spontaneous chemical reactions. I try to let go of control and allow the materials to unfold on their own terms. The process leads, not a fixed idea. What emerges lies somewhere between intention and chance, a collaboration between my hand and the movement of matter itself.
The forms that appear can be read in many ways: as cells or galaxies, minerals or landscapes, nerve pathways, sediment layers or constellations. I am interested in the meeting point between the microscopic and the cosmic, and in the idea that what exists outside us also exists within us.
The horizon is a recurring motif in my work. I see it as a threshold between the known and the unknown, between inner and outer worlds. Each painting becomes a kind of horizon in itself, a place where perception meets matter.
The works invite slow looking. What you see in them is as much yours as mine.
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I was trained as an artist in both Sweden and Norway. I studied at Uppsala Art School (Uppsala Konstskola) under the Swedish artist Stina Wollter, and later completed a Master’s degree at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO).
Alongside my art education, I have studied marketing, economics and operational management at the Oslo Business Academy. I have been involved in several start-ups and commercial projects. That experience has given me a practical foundation for working as an independent artist.
Today I run my own studio and gallery, Galleri Sjøwall, in Anthon Walles vei 34B in Sandvika, just outside Oslo.
NB. The colors in the pictures have a different expression ”live” due to the digital photo calibration.
