Poster, Johan Thurfjell, Untitled

Dimensions: 50 x 70 cm

Johan Thurfjell graduated from Konstfack in 2002 and has since developed into one of the most prominent artists of the younger Swedish generation. His work is often described as personal, poetic and romantic without becoming kitschy or depressing. He can see meaning in something that to others seems meaningless and transforms it into multi-layered narrative structures, a labyrinth of different stories that in some strange way are connected - sometimes without us knowing why. Like life itself.

He himself has said: "I think of the absolute present, of figures caught in a place where the past has been erased and the future has become a blur." This is particularly evident in a melancholy, beautiful work from 2004, which is also available as a poster. The work has no title. But it doesn't need one either. On an older, perhaps discarded notice board from some café or office, still bearing marks from previous letters, he has written: I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU AND I WILL HOLD ON TO THAT WHEN I NOW LET GO

Thurfjell balances on the razor-sharp edge between passion and pathos. The duality of leaving but at the same time holding on is a universal human experience. It doesn't matter who it's about, it's about all of us. Johan Thurfjell reminds us of the fragility of life. It's undoubtedly a melancholic work and a certain amount of melancholy has been considered to make us self-reflective people. But it doesn't have to mean only blackness. To dare to let go is also to dare to live.

The motif on this poster is a work of art in the collection of Moderna Museet.

Art.no: MOM35

© Johan Thurfjell/BUS 2006