Holy mountains, 2008-2010 | Charcoal on paper, 120 x 100 cm
Homework | Editorial illustrations for Frihet magazine
[ All images ©Johan Björkegren ]
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The engaging work of Swedish artist/illustrator Johan Björkegren is executed with great care, keen attention to detail plus obviously much time and patience. These intricate charcoal and ink drawings are beautifully textured, complex and dimensional giving much for the eye to feast upon. And even more so as many of the drawings are large scale. They must be quite impressive to study in person. I encourage you to follow the link above to Johan’s website to view the works larger.
I asked Johan to tell us more about himself, his background and his drawings…
I grew up in a small town on the west coast of Sweden. I studied Graphic Design at Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm. After graduating in 2005 I initially began working as a graphic designer and illustrator, mainly doing commissions and commercial work. Over time my work has developed more toward fine art and large scale drawings. I still do commissions as a illustrator now and then. I don’t think there is a conflict to work both in illustration and fine art.
My materials are charcoal lead pens (Stift). I prefer Rotring pens as they feel so solid. But you can not find them in Sweden and they are very expensive. For most of my charcoal drawings I use Mohawk Superfine paper. I like Mohawk because it is a good paper and as I am a sucker for all vintage Americana stuff. It’s not bad that Mohawk paper has a history going back to the 1800s.
For part from my charcoal drawings, I work with ink (Pelikan) and Invercote paper. And I do some works with clay and recently I have picked up the oil colors again which I have not used for ten years.
In my work i work with my ideas and things that i feel and building up my own world of pictures and with the drawing itself as an object. I am not the analytic/conceptual kind. I work a lot with landscapes and scenery as with expressions.
My inspirations comes from all sorts of things; I can’t really point out anything specific. But I am really interested in music and old stuff. I get inspired from the Swedish nature, old underground comics, landscape paintings, architecture and graphic design. As much as the motives, the repetitive work itself with building up structures and the drawing technique is essential for my work. Just now I have started working with the unfinished drawings and with food still lifes.
Apart from my work as a artist I drink beer and play guitar. I have lived in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden for eight years, but now think I will relocate to the west coast again.
>> See more of Johan’s portfolio on his website
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