Year Review | 2025
- Johan Söderström
- Dec 31, 2025
- 3 min read
This year has been challenging in different ways; watching the devastating news of the world, losing my day job and my gallerist, as well as a few health problems. Still, thanks to the Norwegian welfare system, a grant from BKV (Norwegian Visual Artists’ Remuneration Fund) and a few sales, I got to spend a lot of time in the studio. I only made two solo exhibitions and a residency with a group exhibition this year. One planned exhibition got postponed to 2026 as it clashed with the residency.
As last year, I did a lot of activism for Palestine, which, to some extent, influenced my art. I developed a couple of new series—Stone Conversations and Entangled Reality—and did a lot of free-standing, or diptych works in the Spread compilation and other series, as well as some larger works. In the fall, I started making my panels with pine wood instead of oak. Mainly because the new panel design, with a levelled inside, makes the filler reach the edges, and thus the oak becomes less prominent. The pine wood is easier to combine with other wood structures or sculptures, an avenue I might explore in the future. And of course, pine is much cheaper.
The first exhibition was in March at Ski Kunstforening, not far from Oslo. I called the exhibition Short Stories as I focused more on free-standing works than long series. It featured a few new works, as well as many older ones I had never shown before, and some previously exhibited ones. It was a nice event, and a few friends came from Oslo for the opening. Read more here.
The next one was already in May at Kunstgarasjen in Bergen. I had been looking forward to it as the venue seemed very good and professional. And I was not disappointed. The gallery had two big rooms and a black box. I had the first room, Magnhild Opdøl the next and Pouria Kazemi showed a video. As planned, I showed the works from the Spread compilation I´d been working on since winter 2024. I also exhibited the bucket installation #525 Sculpture Is Something You Bump Into When You Back Up To Look At A Painting again, as I wasn't 100% happy with how it turned out at Buer Gallery the previous year. This time it got a more prominent place.
My son lives in Bergen, and I got to celebrate his birthday when I was there. The opening was a lot of fun, and my friend Otto Tveit, whom I met at a residency in Ålvik some years ago, showed up. The next day, I had an artist talk with Monica Takvam. A few people showed up, among them an ex-colleague from work and the artist Torgrim Wahl Sundt, whom I exhibited with in Bodø. He and I went out for dinner and beers afterwards, and he showed me the best places in Bergen. Read more about the exhibition here.
In August, I travelled to Sorrento for the residency Genius Loci arranged by two art organisations—Extrartis and DOM Art Residence. It happened pretty suddenly, as I had applied earlier this year and forgot about it when I got the news that I had been accepted during the summer. I decided to reschedule my upcoming show at Fredrikstad Kunstforening as it clashed with the residency. This was my second international residency and was a wonderful experience. We were only six participants this time, and I got to know them all very well. There was a large staff from both organisations; they were all very professional, and we received excellent care.
We lived and worked at the beautiful Villa La Rupe, just beside a deep gorge with a lovely garden and a pool. I enjoyed it so much.
The residency started with a large exhibition in the garden with works that we had sent in beforehand. Unfortunately, my works never arrived. But I produced three works during my stay, and at the end, there was another group exhibition at the Chiostro di San Francesco in the centre of Sorrento, and this time I showed two new pieces. Read more about the residency here.
Here is a sample of my artistic work during the year:
I made 34 works this year. Two of them multipaneled. A proper amount, I paced myself.
Counting the three works I donated to the residency organisations, I sold six works this year. I also gave my sons two works as Christmas gifts—on request. So, slightly better than last year. Let's hope it's a trend!
That´s all folks!
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