David Molander – Hjärtat med vänner
We are pleased to present David Molander’s fourth solo exhibition at the gallery, Hjärtat med vänner, featuring a new series of drawings and watercolours on paper. Alongside his photographic practice, Molander has explored different media throughout his career. With this exhibition, he turns his attention to the intimate and immediate possibilities of drawing and painting, creating a world that feels at once familiar and strangely distant. Hjärtat med vänner marks the first presentation of this aspect of Molander’s practice at the gallery.
Rendered in delicate watercolour, the works are populated by mysterious creatures that move between human and animal forms. They appear to emerge from forests, mist, and undefined landscapes, caught in quiet moments as if unexpectedly glimpsed in their own universe. Some seem almost unaware of the viewer, while others appear to look back. Certain compositions feel as if seen through a window or a magical mirror, allowing fleeting views into a hidden world that exists just beyond our own.
The soft colours and blurred edges allow the figures to appear and disappear within the paper. At times almost abstract, at others clearly figurative, the works remain suspended between recognition and imagination. There is something playful in these encounters, but also a sense of quietness: the creatures seem pensive and transient, as though they might dissolve back into the surrounding colour and fog at any moment.
David Molander (b. 1983) graduated from the School of Photography at Gothenburg University in 2010. In addition, he has studied film and photography at Harvard University. Molander is known for his longstanding engagement with Slussen, which has resulted in several public commissions in the area. His Slussen work has also been exhibited at ArkDes, the Hasselblad Center, and the Stockholm City Museum, and is now part of the permanent collection of Moderna Museet. Furthermore, he has completed a commission for Stockholm konst. Other public commissions include an installation at Life City, Hagastaden, Stockholm, commissioned by Atrium Ljungberg, the Tierp Rescue Station / Region Uppsala, and Huddinge Sjukhus / Region Stockholm.
Over the years, Molander has received several awards and scholarships: the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Beckers Artist Grant, Hasselblad Foundation's Victor Fellowship and the Location One Residency and Vinunic Art Prize. In addition, his work has been shown at Gothenburg Art Museum, Gothenburg City Museum, Kulturhuset, Färgfabriken, Fotografiska, Arkitekturmuseum / Museum of Architecture and Design, Hasselblad Center, Stockholm City Museum, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Boston, Storefront for Art and Architecture and Julie Saul Gallery, New York, and Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne.
Molander is represented in the collections of the National Museum in Stockholm, Moderna Museet, Beckers Art Collection, Gothenburg Art Museum, Hasselblad Foundation, Ståhl Collection, Public Art Agency Sweden, Stockholm Konst, Region Stockholm, Region Jönköpings län, Stockholm Art Council, Åmell's Collection and in private collections in Sweden, United Kingdom, Switzerland and USA.
