Måns Palmberg

“My painting is based on a growing collection of flea market finds, sculptures, junk and various materials. I arrange the objects back and forth on my table in the studio until I find a motif that feels exciting to paint. I’m inspired by the possibilities of image-making and the variation that different still lifes bring to my painting. I’m also just as curious about mixing and applying paint as I am about exploring which kinds of images I can create.”

Måns Palmberg moves with the same wonder at the nature of painting as at the world itself. Objects, phenomena, moments – in his hands, everyday details dissolve and take on new forms. A still life becomes an interpretation, a displacement, an opening. Through Palmberg’s art, perhaps we see things not as they were, and not as they are, but as they might yet be?

On the panel, a transformation is taking place. A toy horse becomes a real horse. Or a… well, something else. Something that is emerging, but does not have a name yet. Palmberg plays. He plays with found objects and stones, with remnants, debris and trinkets. It is a game that stems from a seriousness. Or is it the other way around? Does the seriousness come out through play? After all, what do we really know – about the world we move in, about what we think we see, about the images that reflect but also displace?

Painting is Palmberg’s way of listening. It is slow. It requires presence, a kind of deeper gaze. And in what is painted, a space opens up – without language, but full of meaning. We have to stop there. Wonder and feel. Maybe the laughter will come first. Maybe the idea. Maybe they are the same thing.