Paul-Robin Sjöström | – Är du lycklig? – Nej... men ibland är jag glad

With his heart on the sleeve, Paul-Robin Sjöström continues to use clay, color and a symbolic imagery to invite the viewer into a deeply personal world of memories and emotions. His previous ceramic work has mainly been informed by childhood experiences, but for the exhibition at Berg Gallery, he now turns his gaze towards the present and the future.

The exhibition features a series of sculptures and wall-mounted works in which playfulness interblends with gravity. The works in the exhibition demonstrate Sjöström's skill when it comes to utilizing the clay's ability to imitate other materials. Surface and form are manipulated in ways that makes it almost impossible to distinguish the material as such, and the matte, slightly grained surface can rather be said to resemble felt.

The driving force behind Sjöström's artistic practice comes down to visually describing a thought, an emotion or a memory. He uses motifs from everyday life and draws on the symbolism and narrative power they possess – an approach in which he is free to reduce, extract and emphasize elements as he wishes.

In – Är du lycklig? – Nej... men ibland är jag glad, Sjöström uses symbols such as the boat, the jar, stars and flowers to explore themes of sadness, rootlessness and happiness.

Paul-Robin Sjöström (b. 1989) grew up in Jönköping and first studied ceramics at Capellagården, Öland. In 2014, he received his BFA from Konstfack (the University of Arts, Crafts and Design) in Stockholm, and in 2016 he was a post-baccalaureate at HDK (the Academy of Crafts and Design) in Gothenburg. Sjöström's work has previously been exhibited in several Swedish cities and internationally, including the USA, China, South Korea and Italy. In recent years, Sjöström has been to several international residencies and has received a number of grants, including the Hertha Bengtsson Scholarship Fund (2018), the Rochefort Scholarship, the Archie Bray Foundation (2021) and the Swedish Arts Grants Committee's two-year working grant (2021).