Jacob Dahlgren

Fourth Dimension/Third Uncle
3 – 27 Sep 2015

Installation view

JACOB DAHLGREN  is an intelligent, playful, and visually fascinating artist, whose life merges with his art. His works are often large-scale installations consisting of everyday materials such as dartboards, polyester ribbons, hangers or disposable coffee cups. Dahlgren processes the everyday experience into art and reminds us that it is worth our while to look around us. In a sense, he carries on the tradition of constructivism, refreshing it, and bringing it to the present‐day context.  Dahlgren is engaged in several simultaneous dialogues: form – function, sublime – everyday, flat – three-dimensional. He is endlessly inventive, surprising, amusing and producing real aesthetic-intellectual experiences.

Jacob Dahlgren (b. 1970) lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. He received his MFA from the Royal College of Art in 1999. Dahlgren as exhibited widely, including venues such as Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere (2023); Galleri Andrehn-Schiptjenko, Paris (2021); Stavanger kunstmuseum (2020); Copenhagen Contemporary (2019); Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch (2017), Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2013, 2011, 2010), Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2010, 2013), 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 created several outdoor sculptures for locations in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Great Britain.

Daily T-Shirt, 2001–

Early One Morning, Eternity Sculpture
Kalasatama, Helsinki, 2018

In the City of Helsinki Collection

Photo: Maija Toivanen / HAM

The Flag Project
Sergelstorg, Stockholm, 2022

Photo: Courtesy of the artist

Dubrovrik 2006, 2015
clothes hangers, aluminium
111 x 154 x 42 cm

In private collection

I, The World, Things, Life, 2007

In Arter Collection

Photo: Courtesy of the artist

Not And Or 11, 2017
mixed media
110 x 96,5 cm

In Lars-Göran Johnsson collection

Fourth Dimension/Third Uncle
3 – 27 Sep 2015

Installation view

Concretists also developed rules for form and colour III, 2015
corian, electric cableand lamp
50 x 50 cm

The Wonderful World of Abstraction, Constructivist Version, 2015
steel, silk ribbons
280 x 300 x 300cm

In Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art Collection

Jacob Dahlgren
10 May – 13 Jul 2012
exhibition view

Units of Measurements, 2011
folding rulers
102 x 96 cm

The Wonderful World of Abstraction
16 April – 10 June 2009
Installation view

Selection of available works. For the full list, please contact galerie(at)anhava.com

How lines moves beyond geometry and space, 2015
coloure pencils and MDF board
26 x 26 cm

How lines moves beyond geometry and space, 2015
coloure pencils and MDF board
26 x 26 cm

How lines moves beyond geometry and space, 2015
coloure pencils and MDF board
26 x 26 cm

Not And Or 7, 2019
mixed media
154 x 114 cm

Not And Or 8, 2019
mixed media
121 x 99 cm

Not And Or 9, 2019
mixed media
149 x 126 cm

Send inquiry

BioCVExhibitions

Exhibitions

Bio

JACOB DAHLGREN (b. 1970) is an intelligent, amusing and visually fascinating artist, whose life merges with his art. He processes the everyday experience into art and reminds us that it is worth our while to look around us. In a sense, he carries on the tradition of constructivism, refreshing it, and bringing it to the present‐day context. Not only providing aesthetic pleasure, Dahlgren’s works surprise their viewers, arousing the joy of realisation.

He may paint seemingly non-figurative modernist paintings and make video pieces or prints of stripes that are surprisingly based on the patterns of Dahlgren’s collection of t-shirts, at present numbering well over a thousand. He works with everyday objects: tin cans, disposable cups, clothes hangers, measures and even saws, constructing elegant entities from them that appear to be abstract.

 

CV

download as pdf

J A C O B  D A H L G R E N

Born 1970 in Stockholm

STUDIES
1994–1999 Royal Academy of Art, M.A., Stockholm

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2025
    • General & Specific, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki, Finland
  • 2024
    • When Anxieties Become Form, Workspace Gallery, London, UK
  • 2023
    • I, The World, Things, Life, Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Trondheim, Norway
    • Constructing A New World (Under Construction), Bros Hjorts Has, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 2021
    • Units of Measurments, Galleri Andrehn-Schiptjenko, Paris, France
    • The Flag Project, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden
    • Units of Measurments, Feldbusch Wiesner Rudolph, Berlin, Germany
  •  2020
    • The Flag Project, Kunsthalle Göppingen, Germany
    • Jacob Dahlgren, Stavanger Kunstmuseum, Norway
  •  2019
    • Art is Life, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen
    • Not And Or, Galleri Andrehn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm
    • Not And Or, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2018
    • Not And Or, Eskiltuna Konstmuseum
  • 2017
    • Quality Through Quantity, Museum Ritter, Waldenbunch
  • 2015
    • Fourth Dimension/Third Uncle, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Third Uncle, Workplace, London
  • 2014
    • Stripes and Coloured Circles Stig Fredriksson and Jacob Dahlgren, Kerava Art Museum
    • Abstract space in concrete terms, RUA RED South Dublin Arts Centre, Dublin
    • Jacob Dahlgren and Emily Stremming Duet, St Louis
    • On Balance, Fabrica, Brighton
  • 2013
    • Painting into Space and the Meaning of Construction, Galleri Andrehn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm
    • No confict no irony (I love the whole world), Collective Gallery, Edinburgh
    • Between obvious form and supposed content, Kristianstad Konsthall
    • Kunstraum, London, curated by Thomas Cuckl
    • Work as method curated by Kerstin Engholm, a project for Austrian Chamber of Labour, Vienna
  • 2012
    • Neo Concrete Ballet, Grad Culture Center, Belgrade
    • Latitude Contemporary Art festival, Mexico City
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Colour-Time-Structure, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead
  • 2011
    • I, the world, things, life, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, curated by Matthias Ullrich
    • Units of measurements, Skärets Konsthall, Nyhamnsläge
    • Model for understanding the world, Galleri Andersson/Sandström, Umeå
  • 2010
    • The viewer is in the picture Jacob Dahlgren och Johan Löfgren, Passagen, Linköpings Konsthall
    • New Abstraction, Jacob Dahlgren & Johan Löfgren, Gallerie Leger, Malmö
    • Jacob Dahlgren/My Ekman, Konsthallen/Hamnmagasinet i Varberg
  • 2009
    • Sharks, lions and ships, Steven Wolf Gallery, San Francisco
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Galleri Andrehn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm
    • Forward, back, right, left, Henry Art Gallery Seattle, East Gallery, curated by Elizabeth Brown
  • 2008
    • Heaven is a place on earth, Mayerei, Karlsruhe
    • Prints Jacob Dahlgren, Grafikens Hus, Mariefred
  • 2007
    • Heaven is a place on earth, Steven Wolf Gallery, San Francisco
    • Jacob Dahlgren, Ystads Konstmuseum
  • 2006
    • Galleri Box, Gothenburg
    • Early one morning, Galerie Artfinder, Hamburg
    • Jacob Dahlgren and Elly Hemberg, Kulturhuset, Skövde
  • 2005
    • Malmö Konsthall with Katarina Löfström, Malmö
    • A wither shade of pale, Kunstverein Harburger Banhof, Hamburg
  • 2004
    • Lamps and trees, Galleri Stefan Andersson, Umeå
    • Eskilstuna Konstmuseum, Eskilstuna
    • I, the world, things, life, Galleri Charlotte Lund, Stockholm
  • 2003
    • The possibility of eternal conceptual misunderstandings, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Item 1: general constructive will, Galleri Mårtenson/Persson, Påarp
  • 2002
    • Neither man nor nation canexist without a sublime idea, Wintergarten kunst im raum, Wien
  • 2001
    • Third Uncle, Millesgården, Lidingö
    • Galleri Charlotte Lund, Stockholm
  • 2000
    • Galleri Maneten, Gothenburg
    • Jacob Dahlgren/Olle Baertling, Grafiska sällskapet, Stockholm
  • 1999
    • Galleri Charlotte Lund, Stockholm
  • 1998
    • Galleri Mejan, Stockholm
    • Under-Gång, Södersjukhuset, Stockholm
  • 1997
    • Konstnärshuset (with Andreas Eriksson)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2025
    • Rock, Paper, Scissors – Kiasma’s Collection Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland
  • 2024
    • Experiments in Conretism, EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland
    • Faisons Corps, Maif Social Club, Paris, France
    • Abstracting the Ordinary – Art from the everyday, Hämeenlinna Art Museum, Finland
  • 2023
    • Dimensions of a Line, Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa, Finland
    • Fortunate Coincidences – Lars Göran Johnsson Collection, Turku Art Museum, Finland
    • Art in Space, Space in Art, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
    • Yrjö Kukkapuro – Magic Room, EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland
  • 2022
    • When Play Makes Art, Museum Ritter, Sammlung Marli Hoppe-Ritter Waldenbuch, Germany
    • Venez jouer avec l’art !, LA FFAC Centquatre, Paris, France
    • This Play, Arter, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 2021
    • Paradise Kortrijk 2021, Triennial for Contemporary art, Belgium
    • Spectrum – Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Art WAM Turku City Art Museum, Finland
    • Temporary Vinter Exhibition Bredängstorg, Stockholm Konst, Sweden
    • Heart Open to Art, Niemistö Collection Aboa Vetus Ars Nova Museum, Turku Finland
    • 4:ans buss – STILL UNTITLED HenProjects, Stockholm Sweden
  • 2020
    • Mind the gap Museum fur Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Germany
    • Rules of Abstraction Esther Stocker and Jacob Dahlgren Collectors Agenda, Vienna Austria
    • Sensory Art Havremagasinet Länskonsthall Boden, Sweden
    • ALL CHEERED UP! Hangmenproject, Stockholm Sweden
  • 2019
    • Continuous Refle(a)ction Riverside Art Museum, Beijing China
    • Yoga to Go PUTTE, Projektraum für aktuelle Kunst e.V. Neu-Ulm, Germany
    • Bickachsen 12 Contemporary Sculpture in Bad Homburg and Frankfurt RheinMain, Germany
    • The feast Avesta Art, Sweden
    • Open Art Örebro, Sweden
    • Colour Snap, University of Hertfordshire
  • 2018
    • HEIMAT The 2018 Guang’an Art Biennale, China
    • Mixed Tape, Gallery Feldbush Wiesner Rudolph, Berlin
    • Self-Improvement / Personal Enchancement, Vögele Kultur Zentrum
    • Galleri Andrehn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm
    • No Stars and Stripes, Collectors Agenda, Vienna
    • Touch – Works from the Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection, EMMA –
    • Espoo Museum of Modern Art
    • Not and Or, Eskiltuna Konstmuseum
  • 2017
    • Action & Painting, Galerie Stadt Sindelfingen
    • Körper-Reflexionen, Positionen aktueller Kunst im Dialog, Hospitalhof, Stuttgart
    • With Seven-league Booths. Stop – Finland., The Art Museum Riga Bourse
    • Jacob Dahlgren och Mari Rantanen, Falsterbo Konsthall
  • 2016
    • Kristianstads Konsthall 15 år!, Center of Contemporary Art, Kristianstad
    • The Duchamp Effect. Readymade – Work from the Daimler Collection, Kunsthalle
      Göppingen
    • Spatial Miracles: Installations, Spatial Constructions, Light Sculptures, Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch
    • The Living Collection: Facing the Public, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
    • Järjestetty juttu, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
    • Black Market. Pleasure Principle, Finnland-Institut, Berlin
    • Briser la glace, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble
    • Collected Works! 30 years with the Maria Bonnier Dahlin Foundation, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm
  • 2015
    • Hår och Nu – Inspireras och gör själv!, Västerås konstmuseum
    • Il faut imaginer Sisyphe heureux, Le Volume, Biennale d’art contemporain de Vern-sur-Seiche
    • 7th Turku Biennial, Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova, Turku
    • SKULPTUR, The Royal British Society of Sculptors, London
    • Eccentric Abstraction, Feldbusch/Wiesner, Berlin
    • Doma International Art Festival, Sofia
  • 2014
    • Sirkus Pinnala, Rauma Art Museum
    • The time for pop art is not over – SuperPop!, Serlachius Museum Gösta, Mänttä
    • Kiasma Hits, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
    • Satellite Satellite, Workplace, London
    • Kiasma goes Kunsthalle, Helsingin Taidehalli, Helsinki
    • Colour Me In, Esbjergs Kunstmuseum
    • Skulptur i Pilane, Tjörn
    • Re: Art MEKEN, Smedjebacken
    • Black Market, Gallery Sinne, Helsinki
  • 2013
    • Sleeper, Workplace, London
    • Kiasma’s 15th anniversary show, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art Helsinki
    • Game Changer, off-site group exhibition at Meadowbank Sports Centre Collective Gallery, Edinburgh
    • The ghosts of architecture: recent gifts, praised gifts, and acquisitions, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle
    • Ränder, rytm, riktning, Nordiska Museet, Stockholm
    • 13 är ett lyckotal, Gumbostrand Konst&Form, Söderkulla
    • Art Across the City, curated by Gordon Dalton, Swansea
    • Surface, The Civic Art Center, Barnsley
    • Double Illums Bolighus, Illums Bolighus, Copenhagen
    • Baltic Sea Record 2013, Stadtgalerie Kiel
    • Ta Plats, Kungsbacka Konsthall, Kungsbacka
  • 2012
    • Changing Perspectives – 15 years of the ECB’s artcollection, European Central Bank in Frankfurt
    • Marketplace, Division of labour, Worcester
    • Spectral Landscape (with Viewing Stations), curated by Pamela Fraser and John Neff, Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago
    • Grafik älskar fotografi, Fotografins rum, Kommendanthuset Malmö Museer, Malmö
    • Woodstock 2012, Växjö Konsthall, Växjö
    • Great outdoors, curated by JillianMcdonald, Pace University, New York
    • Worlds apart, Galleri Thomas Wallner, Simris
    • Klang och Jubel, Skärets Konsthall 2002–2012, SkäretsKonsthall, Nyhamnsläge
  • 2011
    • Double, double, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead
    • Ta plats!,Karlskrona Konsthall, Karlskrona
    • Kind of nice, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Playing the city 3, curated by Matthias Ulrich Schirn, Kunsthalle Frankfurt
    • Gallery Artists, Andrae Kaufmann Gallery, Berlin
    • New Productions in the Park – Yoko Ono and Jacob Dahlgren, Andrae Kauffmann, Berlin
  • 2010
    • For Your Eyes Only, De Markten, Brussels, Belgium
    • Murals, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona
    • Minimalism and Applied II, Daimler Art Collection, Berlin
  • 2009
    • All Colors Permitted As Long As They Don’t Interfere With Business, Museum of Contemporary
    • Art Szczecin
    • Superabundant: A celebration of pattern, Turner Contemporary, Margate
    • Hammer and Nail, John Körner, Jacob Dahlgren, Atle Hynne, TWT, Oslo
    • Gallery Artists, Andrae Kaufmann Gallery, Berlin
    • Engholm Engelhorn Gallery, Vienna
    • Från plats till plats del 2, Skissernas museum, Lund
    • Signes d’abstraction, Performance in Margate
  • 2008
    • Image and After, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
    • Next Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Galerie Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf
    • Borås internationella skulpturfestival, Borås Konstmuseum
    • All colours permitted as long as they don’t interfere with business, BWA, Katowice
    • Nuit Blanche Toronto, curated by Dave Dyment
    • Art for fun, Casal Solleric, Mallorca
  • 2007
    • Typ konst, Västerås Konstmuseum
    • etc. Amagerfælledvej Art Project, curated by Sotiris Kyriacou, Copenhagen
    • Bellezza Pericolosa, curated by Manon Slome and Julia Draganovic, Pan Palazzo delle Arti Napoli
    • Welfare Fare Well, 52nd Venice Biennale, The Nordic pavilion, curated by René Block
    • Dangerous Beauty, curated by Manon Slome, Chelsea Art Museum, New York
    • Den moderna staden – det offentliga rummets estetik, Uppsala Konstmuseum
    • Elli Hemberg and Jacob Dahlgren, Norrtälje konsthall
  • 2006
    • Dreamlands burn, Mücsarnok/Kunsthalle Budapest
    • Altered, Stitched and Gathered, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center/MoMA, New York
    • Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm
    • Art, life and confusion, October Salon Belgrade, curated by Rene Block, Belgrade
    • Minimal quotation, Galerie Artfinder, Hamburg
    • Modernautställningen, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
    • Reflecting identities in contemporary art, curated by Veronika Wiman/Marketta Seppälä, European Patent Office, Münich
    • Umedalens skulptur, Umeå
  • 2005
    • Expanded painting, Praguebiennale 2, Prague
    • Swedish – Sri Lankan artist, Harold Pieris Gallery, Colombo Sri Lanka
    • Signes d’abstraction, 3-modiga möten, Gallerian Stockholm, curated by Fredrik Helander
    • Svensk Konst Nu, Sveriges Allmänna Konstförening, touring in Sweden
    • Mostings hus, Copenhagen, Denmark
    • Baltic Raw tower, Hamburg
    • Unizone Riksutstillinger, Norway
    • Union, Christiansands kunstforening
  • 2004
    • Maleri, Galleri F 15, Moss
    • I, the world, things, life, Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Norrköping
    • Här står du, Konstfrämjandet touring exhibition Sweden
    • Signs of abstraction, Black box, Norrköping
    • Äntligen hemma, Bohusläns Museum, Nacka Konsthall, Skövde Konsthall, Karlskrona Konsthall
  • 2002
    • Umedalens skulptur, Stefan Andersson, Umeå
    • 27th Pontevedra biennal, Spain
    • Greyscale/CMYK Tramway, Glasgow
    • Ars Fennica, Hämeelinna Art Museum
    • Ars Fennica, South Carelia Art Museum, Lappeenranta
  • 2001
    • Life Foundation, Stockholm
    • Who’s afraid of blue, yellow and red?, Liljevalchs, Stockholm Forsbacka bruk
    • 17 up, Manes, Prague
    • 17 up, Arsenal, Poznan
  • 2000
    • Baltic Sea Biennal, Kalliningrad
    • Biennale sud, Sörlandets konstmuseum
    • The flying moose, Konstnärshuset, Stockholm
    • Spiller, Växjö konsthall
  • 1999
    • Annexet Skeppsholmen, Stockholm
    • 112 years of Swedish graphic art, Grafikens hus, Mariefred
  • 1998
    • Grönt, Konstnärshuset, Stockholm

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
British museum, London
Chamber of Labour, Vienna
Daimler Collection, Stuttgart
Eskilstuna Konstmuseum, Eskilstuna
European Central Bank, Frankfurt
Fondation France
Göteborgs konstmuseum, Gothenburg
Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington
Kiasma, Helsinki
Maria Bonnier-Dahlins stiftelse, Stockholm
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
National Gallery of Ireland
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Norrköping
Saastamoinen Foundation
SAK, Sweden
Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
SEB konstförening, Stockholm
Statens Konstråd, Stockholm
Sundsvalls museum, Sundsvall
Sörmlands museum, Nyköping
Uppsala Konstmuseum, Uppsala
Vehbi Koc Vakfi, Istanbul, Turkey
Västerås konstmuseum, Västerås

PUBLIC WORKS

Kalasatama, Helsinki, 2018
Astana, Kazakstan, 2017
Kumla, Sweden, 2017
Barkley Village, Bellingham, USA, 2015
Tjörn, Sweden 2014
London Royal Hospital, Whitechapel, VITASL ARTS 2014
Brattørkaia, Trondheim 2014/15
Hurum Komunhus 2014
Kvarteret Bulten, Bonniers Fastigheter 2013
Skanstullshallen, commissioner Stockholm konst 2011
Sundbyberg Library 2013
Slättängen School, Kristianstad Kommun 2012
Askebyskolan School, Rinkeby
Bergsvägen, roundabout, Linköping
Campus Valla, Linköping
Hornstull, Stockholm
Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, Stockholm
Kvarteret Vattenfallet, Råcksta, commissioner Stockholmshem 2011
Skanstullshallen, Stockholm 2011
Staircase for private home, Stockholm 2007
Swedish Court, Jönköping
Södersjukhuset Hospital, Stockholm
UMAS Hospital, Malmö, 2010.
Volvo Truck Corporation, Gothenburg 2007