SHORT BIO
Juanma González is a Spanish artist who works and lives in Botkyrka.
His work combines experimental and traditional practices – drawing, photography, site-specific installation and art intervention. González uses walking as a method of knowledge and art production. Over the past 9 years, his research interests have been concerned with the act of walking as a practice for artistic production. He has developed walking projects and art exhibitions in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Spain. He received an MFA from the Royal Art Academy in Stockholm in 2016, and is a co-founder of artist-run collective Flat Octopus, where he curates art interventions in places outside the art circuit in Stockholm.
Recent exhibitions and projects include: LAND ART 2023 at Dikemark (Norway), I Skogen at Alsters Herrgård (2023, SE), Crosswalking in LA at Durden and Ray (2023, USA), Camiños Creativos at Museo Gaiás (2022, Spain) and Landscapes of other places at Supermarket Art Fair in Stockholm 2022.
PROPOSED WORK
I aim to continue with my research-based process that I started for my stay at BKN in February. My findings by walking in the nature of Björkö led me to experiment with different materials and techniques. The result was a series of paintings and drawings titled Död Ved Ger Nytt Liv. Since then, this work has been developed on different contexts and materials. In Karlstad (Sweden), I built a labyrinth-form installation with wood collected in the surrounding forest following a poem composed by the Swedish writer Gustaf Fröding. "Du banar dig fram, du växer, du höjer dig fot för fot" (Jun’23) was part of I SKOGEN art exhibition at Alsters Herrgård supported by Värmland Kommun. For LAND ART 2023 in Dikemark (Norway), I created a second one, that took place in a former psychiatric hospital; “The healing labyrinth” (Aug’23) was made on organic matter collected in the surrounding gardens (mainly, leaves).
I would like to go back to Björkö to discover what is happening this time, in the fall. What kind of new findings will I get for my staying? How will a different session expire me for creating art? What is the next step in Död Ved Ger Nytt Liv series? What will it come up with after meeting and living with fellow walking artists?
There are sites on the island that I didn't explore. There are techniques that I would like to test on. There are histories that I want to listen to. There is a table where I want to share my food. There are steps that I want to walk on... All of this is on Björkö and, at the end of my residency, it becomes art.
Studio: 1
Dates: October 14-24
WALKING AS A CREATIVE WANDERING
WALKING AS A LANDSCAPE DISCOVERING
WALKING AS AN INSIGHT HUNTING
WALKING AS AN ART PRODUCTION TRIGGERING
The act of walking involves ideas such as observation, exploration, discovery and curiosity. From an artistic point of view, walking also involves creativity. My fascination with walking as a means of artistic production stems from my interest in landscapes and their constant change, which drives me to experiment with different solutions to new challenges. Walking in the territory makes me more involved with it. It allows me to perceive each place from an emotional state that relates the area to my personal experience. As an artist, I walk as an avid hunter in search of insights, with a strong desire to perceive the peculiarities of the physical space that can lead me to ideas that I can use to make art. In pursuit of the marvelous in the territory, I scrutinize the area in search of specific nuances of the landscape. In my creative wanderings I am not too interested in capturing the fidelity of appearances. I'd rather draw the emotions that the physicality of the landscape evokes in me. In the studio I shape these affective states by subjecting my work to a period of technical and conceptual refinement.
In Björkö I have been exploring Finnala Stenhuggeri, an abandoned quarry by the sea, where I have been deeply fascinated by the geological shapes that man's hand has left in the rock, like witnesses to a particular time that will never return.
The outcome of my exploratory wanderings is "Hugget i sten" (in English: "set in rock"), a series of 24 duotone A3-format drawings made with natural pigments.
