Born in 1964, Martin Gustavsson lives and works in London

Education

1994-96 The Royal University College of Fine Arts, Stockholm
1991-94 Middlesex University, BA Fine Art
1990-91 Middlesex Polytechnic, Art Foundation
1983-84 University of Gothenburg, Political History

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2011 In No Particular Order, Galerie Crone, Berlin
2011 In No Particular Order, Göteborg Konstmuseum
2010 In No Particular Order, Maria Stenfors Gallery, London
2009 Feed Thy Soul, E:vent Gallery, London (with Matteo Rosa)
2008 Wrath of God, Oslo Kunstforening, Norway
2007 Wrath of God, Brändström & Stene, Stockholm
Ipomeia, Galleri Mårtenson & Persson, Båstad
2005 Daisy Chain, Karizma Gallery, Kuwait
2004 The Gospel, Brändström & Stene, Stockholm
Shedding, Project Space, Museum of Modern Art, London
2003 The Gospel, Malmö Art Museum, Malmö
The Gospel, Konsthallen, Bohusläns Museum
2001 By Proxy, Zinc Gallery, Stockholm
2000 Double Happiness, Taro Nasu Gallery, Tokyo
1999 If You Could See Me Now, Titanik, Åbo
1997 Still Lives, Galleri Axel Mörner, Stockholm
1996 Through The Looking Glass, The Project room, The Royal University College of Fine Arts, Stockholm

Selected Group Exhibitions

2008 M8’s, Clifford Chance, London
Insidan, Murberget, Länsmuseet Västernorrland, Härnösand, Sweden
Svenska Självporträtt- från Zorn till samtid, Mjellby Konstmuseum, Halmstad, Sweden
2007 Market art fair, Brändström & Stene, Stockholm
Vårsalongen, Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm
2006 Art 37 Basel, Brändström & Stene, Stockholm
2005 Art 36 Basel, Brändström & Stene, Stockholm
The Mirror of Desire, Milliken Gallery, Stockholm
2004 Genus & Media, Region Museum Västra Götaland, Sweden
2002 Visitors, Bohusläns Museum, Konsthallen, Uddevalla, Sweden
2001 It's a Wild Party And We are Having a Great Time, Paul Morris Gallery, New York
Nu Blommar Det, Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Sweden
Swenglish, IASPIS Ateljén, London
1999 Mr Fascination, Thread Waxing Space, New York
1998 Ice Garden, London
New Paintings, Abbey Orchard Street, London
1996 Vårutställning, The Royal University Collage of Fine Arts, Stockholm
1995 Hotellet, Hotel Gustav Vasa, Stockholm

Therese Marklund, Gud gör comeback (Konstperspektiv, Mars 1, 2008)
Linda Fagerström, Konstens knivskarpa gräns mellan sex och naket (Helsingborgs Dagblad, August 18, 2007)
Carl-Johan Malmberg, Genombrott för verkligt stort måleri (Svenska Dagbladet, April 2007)
Anders Olofsson, Martin Gustavsson (konsten.net, 2007)
Milou Allerholm, Ett sensuellt evangelium, (Dagens Nyheter, January 2004)
Carl Johan Malmberg, Mäktiga bilder vrider och vänder på manskroppen (Svenska Dagbladet, February 7, 2004)
Lilith Waltenberg, Evangelium enligt Gustavsson, (Sydsvenska Dagbladet, February, 2003)
Lottie Sällström, Evangeliet sprids i Malmö (QX, February, 2003)
Måns Holst-Ekström, Evangelium enligt Martin, Sydsvenskan (Mars 17, 2003)
Håkan Nilsson, Dunkelt. Gustavsson ger verkligheten suddiga kanter (Dagens Nyheter, April 7, 2001)
Lia Gangitano, Mr Fascination (Trans Magazine, 2001)
Peggy Phelan, Repetition and Absence: The Paintings of Martin Gustavsson (2001)
Nordic Art Feature (ZOO, Issue 7, 2000)
Monty DiPietro, Paintings that invite you to linger longer (The Japan Times, 2000)
Jenny Nybom, “Band Mellan Människor” (Åbo underrättelser, Sept. 25 1999)
Jari Nikkola, Review (Aamuset, September 22 1999)
Bill Arning, Three Swedes (New Art Examiner, 1998)
Marika Wachtmeister, “Konsten lever I Stockholm” (Kristianstadsbladet, Sept 1997)
Bo Madestrand, ”Vad händer i konsten”? (Expressen, August 25 1997)
Mårten Castenfors, ”Med ansiktet i blickpunkten” (Svenska Dagbladet, August 30 1997)
Lars O Eriksson, ”Stillsamma höststart” (DN, August 1997)

Inevitably making sense

This text is derived from a set of questions and answers between the author and the artist, that constituted a live performance at Maria Stenfors Gallery, London on 12th November 2010, during In No Particular Order’s exhibition there. Ten questions and more answers were written separately in advance by the author and the artist respectively, neither knowing what the other’s were. The questions derived from a series of intense studio visits and private conversations between the two during the development of the work. The answers take the form of carefully selected quotations from a diverse range of sources that variously (pre)occupy the artist. During the performance questions and answers were drawn at random, one pair at a time, in the order that they appear below. Their conjunction was pure chance (or something else), emulating or enacting structural and interpretive characteristics of the work exhibited, representing the kind of communication that might occur within a friendship.

Continue reading: Catalogue Essay: "Inevitably Making Sense" by Ian White

You Go, I Come, an installation of paintings by Martin Gustavsson, comprises a transitional space between abstraction and figuration, signifying absence. This absence is rendered materially, spatially, and psychologically, and borrows from the cinematic frame to heighten the narrative significance of one’s chosen departure.

Continue reading: You Go, I Come. Catalogue text by Lia Gangitano. Bohusläns Museum. 2002

When Mary Magdalen goes to visit Jesus’ grave she is grief stricken. Not only has she lost her spiritual guide but also the man she loves. She finds the tomb empty and on her way out she meets the man she saw die only days before. She reaches out to touch him, as to prove the miracle but also an act of intense longing. This is when Jesus says ‘Nolle Me Tangere’ or ‘Don’t touch me’. This scene became a famous genre in painting and has been depicted over and over again during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Continue reading: The Gospel. Catalogue essay by Martin Gustavsson. 2003

T.S. Eliot remarked that only people who have personalities know what it is to want to escape them. Martin Gustavsson’s wonderful painting Somebody Else’s Head, reminds me of that wish and of the difficulty of making it come true. Even when I am wishing I could escape my own head, I realize (with acute horror) that all my fantasies of another person’s head are like arrows bouncing off my mind’s own mirror. By virtue of authoring my wish to escape, I condemn myself to exile within the architecture of my own imagining.

Continue reading: Repetition and Absence: The Paintings of Martin Gustavsson. Catalogue essay by Peggy Phelan. 2000