Patrick Nilsson

Patrick Nilsson was born in Högsbo, Sweden in 1966. He was educated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and KonstLab Valand Academy of Fine Arts. He lives and works in Stockholm.

Patrick Nilsson is a master of paradox and surprise, of playful gravitas, searing his works with a kind of passionate serenity. He reads voraciously, but also gleefully mishears or misreads, writing down phrases and words which may apply to the spirit of his works. An artist who embraces the power of words and narrative, he has chosen to tackle some of mankind's darkest chapters in ways which spur new angles of introspection of our inner selves. The imagery he chooses is both prosaic and profound. In his words: "There is a pattern, reflecting on the human condition. A contradiction between the kindness that humans are capable of and their cruelty and egoism… I have chosen tools, kitchen utensils and such like to emphasize that these are actions that have been undertaken swiftly, on the spur of the moment, and in a riled up emotional state." Many of his artworks eschew human presence entirely, in order to seek the mathematical, ordered side of nature. He remains an artist with a deep commitment to challenging himself and others: "To achieve something, I try to lose control and trust the feeling I have."

His work is in the collections of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm and the Gothenburg Museum of Art among others. Recent group exhibitions include Lagom (2020) and Black: Recategorize (2018), both at Ora-Ora, Presents from the past at A-House/Galleri Flach, Stockholm (2019) and New, and Rather New, Drawings at Galerie Hübner + Hübner, Frankfurt (2019).