Erik Johansson

Artistic influences Johansson takes major influence from the surrealist movement of the early 20th century for his photography. Inspired by a core belief of the surrealists that art should be created from the unconscious mind and project man into the reality of his dream, Johansson creates surreal scenes that invite viewers into a world unable to be captured in real time through a camera. The artist says that his birth country will always remain a reference point for his surrealist scenes. He notes that "Sweden will always have a special place in my work ... I like the roughness of it [The Northern European Landscape] and the way the light shapes the landscapes in summer and wintertime, giving them a special character."

Creative process Johansson undertakes an extensive creative process to realise and develop his final surrealist photographs.

His idea for an artwork stems from a simple thought, whether this be a basic idea he would like to capture or an aspect of an image he would like to create. The process begins with a simple sketch in order to map out the plan. Johansson says that planning his ideas is a lengthy process and can take months at a time. However, his biggest challenge he says is finding and locating all the elements he needs to photograph for his final work. Some finished images are the combination of "hundreds of original photographs" as well as raw materials, and Johansson spends dozens of hours using image manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop to alter the image digitally and to illustrate his idea.

Recently, Johansson has been creating images from built sets with the addition of image manipulation. An example of this is his work "Full Moon Service". Johansson separates the photographic elements from their familiar environments and recasts them in a shocking yet harmonious composition, concealing the seams between the images and blurring the boundary between imagination and reality.

The artist has also as released two NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), "Go Your Own Road" and "Head in the Clouds".

Critical response Critical response to Johansson's work has been positive.

Reporter Robert Krulwich wrote that Johansson creates a "meticulous fantasy" which is "part photograph, part construction, part drawing" with "so many layers of foolery in his images, you can't pull the illusion apart, it fits together so perfectly."

She also said that despite Johansson's creative vision for his works, they still have a 'commercial sensibility', especially in works such as "A Leap of Faith". 2023, 11 May – 24 September Make Believe Abecita Pop art & Photo, Borås Sweden (solo exhibition) 2022, 2 July – 21 August Head in the Clouds Magasinet Falun, Falun Sweden (solo exhibition) 2022, 18 February – 24 April Ideas come at Night Institut suédois, 11 Rue Pavenee, Paris, France (solo exhibition) 2021–22 – 16 September 2021 – 30 October 2022 Beyond Imagination 63 Building, 60th Floor, Seoul, South Korea (solo exhibition) 2022 – September Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, St Petersburg Russia Cancelled. Artists page reads "Glory to Ukraine." 2021–22, 10 October – 20 March UnMöglich? Was Wünsche leisten können, Zürich, Switzerland (group exhibition) 2021, 27 March – 7 November Behind the Horizon Kalmar Castle, Kalmar, Sweden (solo exhibition) 2021, 12 June – 24 October Places Beyond Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vasa, Finland (solo exhibition) 2021, 9–17 October Beyond Reality Home Expo, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg (group exhibition) 2021, 1 June – 30 September The La Gacilly Photo Festival La Gacilly, Brittany, France group exhibition) 2020, 25 September – 14 February 2021 Places Beyond Fotografiska Tallinn, Estonia (solo exhibition) 2020, 2 January – 29 March Seongnam Arts Center Museum, Seongnam, South Korea (solo exhibition) 2019, 4 December – 14 March, 2020 Places Beyond Fotografiska Stockholm, Sweden (solo exhibition) 2019, 18 October – 29 December Hyundai Arts Center, Ulsan, South Korea (solo exhibition) 2019, 17 September – 16 November Place Sainte-Croix, Nantes, France (solo exhibition) 2019, 5 June – 15 September Seoul Art Centre, Seoul, South Korea (solo exhibition) 2019, 14 February – 12 May On the other side of Reality Lumiere Brothers Centre of Photography, Moscow, Russia (solo exhibition) 2019, 26 January – 28 April IMAGINE Swedish American Institute, Minneapolis, US (solo exhibition) 2018, 3 December – 31 January Scandinavian Photo Vasagatan 14, Stockholm, Sweden (solo exhibition) 2017–18, 19 September – 11 March Nature Illusions Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden (solo exhibition) 2017, 22–25 November Mind Beyond XPOSURE, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (group exhibition) 2017, 17 June – 8 October Bending Reality Dunkers Kulturhus, Helsingborg, Sweden (solo exhibition) 2017, 28 July – 5 August IMAGINE Summer Film School, Uherské Hradiště, Czech Republic (group exhibition) 2016, 4 June – 18 September IMAGINE Västergötlands Museum, Skara, Sweden (solo exhibition) 2016, 30 April – 8 May Impossible Head On Festival, Sydney, Australia (group exhibition) 2016, 25 February – 9 April Imagine: Created Reality Fotografiska Stockholm, Sweden (solo exhibition)

Awards Erik Johansson was awarded "Nature Photographer of 2015" in June 2016 from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. However, there was controversy surrounding the award as some people believed Johansson was not deserving as he is a photoshop artist. In response, Johansson said that the biggest misconception with his work is that it is only created in the computer, when in reality photographs are the elements that he joins together.