The word “surrounding” is ambiguous as it can be both a noun and a verb, signifying both that which is out there and the act of encircling someone or something. It pinpoints the deceptive subjectivity of civilized man in nature: You believe yourself to be a guest there but you are also part of it, you are nature. Our conscious gaze and the legs that carry us are only for loan, and in the end, we shall all return to dust.

Jesper Nyrén’s (b. 1979) paintings invite us to use our senses. The paintings are large and imposing, made up of square panels that sometimes carry visible traces of the human hand, sometimes seem almost computer generated and pasted in. Some resemble cork or rare bird’s eggs with dense speckles, others have rough surfaces that remind us of building facades. The individual panels interact with each other in rhythmical and sculptural compositions.

Nyrén’s artistry is informed by a desire to see the world as though a lens, a prism or a microscope, which will reveal new patterns of reality. This new series of works also bear traits of a deconstructed way of seeing, of interpretation. Its colors are partly based on those of the landscape surrounding Nyrén’s home and studio in Skeppsmyra; they do not imitate or reproduce nature but rather represent a sense of nature, a particularly fleeting state of light.

In Surrounding, Nyrén enters into a dialogue with artists such as Agnes Martin and John Zurier. Artists whose works are characterized by sensitivity and subjectivity, and at the same time by a structured simplicity. Nyrén’s paintings in the exhibition are defined by this sensibility; by a profound presence and curiosity for the surrounding.

Nyrén lives and works in Stockholm, where he graduated from the Royal Institute of Art in 2007. Previous solo exhibitions include Galleri Flach, Stockholm and at Norrtälje Konsthall, Norrtälje, Sweden. Among his public commissions are the Gullmarsplans subway station and at the New Karolinska Solna Hospital. He has received numerous grants and awards, among them the Baertling scholarship and the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s working grant. Surrounding is Nyrén’s first exhibition at Galerie Forsblom.