13.3 - 16.4. 2025
Opening reception, Thursday, March 13 at 17.00-19.00
Galleri Helle Knudsen is pleased to present a duo exhibition with Örjan Wikström and Karin Almlöf. Wikström and Almlöf share a common quest for exploring existential themes, though they express them in distinct ways. Wikström draws inspiration from art history, creating timeless, light-filled scenes with a meditative quality. His paintings invite the viewer into an enchanting world where the subtle beauty of everyday life intertwines with deeper questions about existence. Almlöf, on the other hand, is more grounded, using grayscale tones and restless lines to capture fleeting moments in nature. Her works feel poetic and intimate as if she's trying to grasp something slipping away. Together, they create a dialogue about the impermanence of moments and the beauty of life.
Born in Stockholm in 1948, Örjan Wikström trained at the Beaux-Arts de Paris. He now lives and works in both Stockholm and Paris.
Born in Gothenburg in 1959, Karin Almlöf studied at Nyckelvik School and Konstfack in Stockholm. She now lives and works in Rimforsa.
Wikström's artistic world carries echoes of art history. He often refers to Bonnard, Giacometti, and Hammershøi, with Bonnard perhaps being the most influential—evident in his works' colours and intimate light. His sweeping backlight dissolves rooms and conversations, transitioning them into an existential state of being, a timelessness within the transient. Beneath the seductive beauty of Wikström's surface, one continuously senses an existential depth.
— Mikael Kihlman
Almlöf captures mist, moisture, shimmering water, and the borders of vegetation in her paintings. Thin layers of paint and silvery tones await dialogue, which arrives in the form of impatient, searching lines etched into the canvas. Her paintings become traces of events like trying to hold onto the wind. What remains are glimpses pinned down by sharp lines—a sudden movement in the grass, across a water surface, or like interference in an inner room.
— Thomas Millroth
Örjan Wikström, Toulouse Lautrec, 2024, acrylic, 30 x 24 cm
Karin Almlöf, Oroshimmel, 2020s, acrylic/car lacquer, 140 x 200 cm