ABOUT Sonja

Motivated by colour

Sonja Dahlgren (b 1973) is a contemporary abstract painter who focuses primarily on color-field and color-block painting. She is based in Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden.

THE “WHY”

Sonja’s work is driven by her love of colour, and her fascination with the potential of colour and form to affect emotions and mood. Her practice is grounded in a formalist approach and a strong belief in the ability of colour and form to generate meaning in their own right, as well as to carry meaning beyond representation. With her work she investigates how colour (colour relationships in particular), form, restraint and composition can create energy, tension and atmosphere. For the viewer, she wants to spark their curiosity, make them stop for a moment, feel something, and perhaps even discover a personal connection with the composition in front of them.

THE creative process

Sonja’s paintings are rarely preconceived, other than a colour (or colours) that she wants to explore, and which she uses as a starting point. Then, the work emerges through layering of paint, curiosity and inquiry (what happens if? what does this colour need in order to…?), and her engagement with the materials themselves. She works playfully and experimentally with equal parts intuition and deliberation, while seeking to create a composition that feels interesting, alive and harmonious.

Sonja’s preferred medium is acrylic paint and oil on canvas, but she also loves working with paper, and paper collage, primarily for its immediacy and impermanent qualities.

Inspiration for the work is often drawn from things that she observes in her surroundings, such as; fashion, architecture, the marina near her home or flowers in her garden. Her work is informed by fauvism, minimalism and the colour field painting movement, and the work of e.g. Henri Matisse, Richard Diebenkorn, Ellsworth Kelly, Mary Heilmann and Imi Knoebel.

Sonja opens up her studio on a regular basis, but visits are of course always welcome by appointment.

THE Background

Sonja is a self-taught painter, and before committing fully to painting, her professional journey spanned several creative and human-centred fields. Her education includes a bachelor of early childhood education, a masters degree in psychology as well as a handful of university courses in photography, visual communication, web design and graphic design. She began her career as an early years teacher, later worked as a web designer, photographer and food stylist, and then practiced as a couple’s therapist, when an “almost burn-out” led her to focus seriously on fine art, and develop a studio practice grounded in her love of colour.