3 Apr – 4 May 2025

My work serves as a watering can that spreads droplets so that something else can grow.
– Jacob Dahlgren

Galerie Anhava is delighted to present a completely new body of work by Jacob Dahlgren in his solo exhibition General & Specific. Dahlgren is known for his practice renewing the traditions of modernism with a fresh conceptual approach, always linking abstraction to our social surroundings with the perspective of everyday observations. The concept of artwork is constantly challenged with his surprising choice and use of materials, or by extending it to a life-long performance, such as Peinture Abstraite, his commitment to wear only striped T-shirts every day since 2001.

Now, the walls of the gallery welcome works that at first glance look like pure geometric abstractions, with their minimalist forms and bright colours alluding towards concretism. These seemingly universal (general) abstractions carry a direct connection to reality: each piece can be traced back to a specific everyday scene from a collection of photographs titled Signs of Abstraction. This ongoing series comprises well over 100 000 photos taken by Dahlgren of geometric patterns and forms present in our urban surroundings – stripes of two sun loungers resting on the grass; geometric design of a pick ‘n’ mix candy bag or the chequered shirt on a person waiting for their hamburger, harmoniously matching the black-and-white tiles of the counter. 

The works in this exhibition follow their real-life counterparts not only in colour, shape and pattern, but also in the placement on the wall with the slight tilt of the red-and-white flag of a miniature Wasa-warship, steep vanishing points of striped awnings or the X-shape of tapes across train station doors. 

The artworks are made by Dahlgren of a composite material called Corian, which he saws to pieces, glues and polishes to solid objects. Ideal for purposes requiring hygienical circumstances with its nonporous and smooth surface, Corian is now mostly used as countertops at high-end kitchens. The sleek, industrial material adds a new voice to the conversations Dahlgren has led with his material choices – he has often made art of readymade products such as cables, saws, pencils or coat hangers, and installations with scales, tin cans or measuring tapes. 

The notions of general and the specific shift constantly in the exhibition, that presents itself as a sort of a continuous loop: the starting point of the works lies in the chain of moments captured in the photographs – in the repetitive act of active observation Dahlgren has assigned himself, or his eyes with. To notice the everyday abstractions and to capture them. In the same way, the artwork does not end with the exhibition, to the doorsteps of the gallery. The loop continues in the multiple chains of moments along with the visitors as their eyes follow the artist’s example and begin to actively notice the abstractions in their surroundings as they continue their way on the street, in a tram, in a supermarket, at their home. 

This way, the whole world becomes an exhibition for Dahlgren – and an art object in itself. 

– Aleksandra Oilinki 

Jacob Dahlgren (b. 1970, Stockholm) lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. He received his MFA from the Royal Institute of Fine Art in 1999, and has since has exhibited widely, including at venues such as Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma (2025, 2013, 2011, 2010), Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere (2023); Galleri Andrehn-Schiptjenko, Paris & Stockholm (2021, 2019); Stavanger Kunstmuseum (2020); Copenhagen Contemporary (2019); Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch (2017), Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2013, 2010), Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (2010), and Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2006). 

Dahlgren was shortlisted for the Ars Fennica Prize in 2002, and in 2007 he represented Sweden at the 52nd Venice Biennale. He has completed numerous public sculptures, most recently Early One Morning, Eternity Sculpture in Kalasatama, Helsinki in 2018. Currently, Dahlgren’s artwork called Wonderful World of Abstraction is on display as part of the Rock, Paper, Scissors collection exhibition in Kiasma.