UPBRINGING AND INSPIRATION
Gustaf Tidholm was born in 1981 in Huddinge, Stockolm. His father Erik was a politician and local councillor, and his mother was at home with Gustaf and six other siblings. He lived the first 10 years in Stockholm and then moved to Alfta in Hälsingland.
Gustaf grew up in an environment that valued artistic expression. Creativity and an interest in drawing, which Gustaf developed early on, were encouraged and there were many sources of inspiration, not least in Gustaf's family.
Gustaf's mother Elinor painted in oil and watercolour, his grandfather's cousin was a famous illustrator and artist Eric Palmquist. On his father's side, his grandmother Kajs Tidholm was a journalist, and his grandfather Sven-Erik was a draughtsman in addition to his work as a bank clerk, where he is purchased art to the bank. Aunt Anna-Clara Tidholm is a writer and illustrator and Uncle Thomas Tidholm is a writer.
INTEREST AND LONGING FOR ART
In childhood and adolescence, drawing and watercolour painting were the order of the day, Gustaf participated in a spring exhibition for young people at Edsbyns Museum, and for a short period drew a cartoon series that was published in the local newspaper Ljusnan in the 1990s.
After high school, Gustaf applied for a drawing course at the Gymnasium in Gävle and got in but was not allowed to leave home at the age of 15 and therefore took a general major in social sciences. After completing the military service, he had plans to go on to Konstfack, but Gustaf moved back to Stockholm at the age of 20 and started working in marketing and sales instead. Eventually he started his own music publishing company and worked for a few years with musicians, producers, and music production. It was amazing to see these artists tap into their creativity and need to express themselves, and at the same time his own longing for art had grown, and with the birth of his children, Gustaf began to return to painting again, but this time through acrylics and abstract language.
In childhood, pencil and watercolour were the obvious choice, and the need to depict was the driving force, with inspiration from great painters such as Carl Larsson, Gunnar Brusewitz and others.
When the desire and drive to create resurfaced, this felt distant, and the need for colour and spontaneous expression now took centre stage. A whole new world without boundaries and predetermined expressions opened and creativity exploded. Gustaf paints mainly in acrylics and uses really anything that can make an impression in the artistic production, different mediums, and tools, kitchen utensils, children's toys, sponges, wooden blocks, water, scrapers and much more.
In 2019, Tidholm started an Instagram account and began posting her work. Almost immediately, followers began to find his account, and it has been a great partner to painting, finding followers and inspiration through social media all over the world. This is where Gustaf's experience in marketing, came in handy and the followers grew, as did the interest in Gustaf's artwork.
It's like being reborn, and it's never too late to take hold of your dreams, he says. Let go and dare to bet on what gives your life meaning, if you do it, it also gives meaning to others, which his paintings do. Being autodidact and having experienced a lot in life is a strength, says Gustaf. Who knows, maybe his painting would have taken a different direction and had completely different expressions.
GUSTAF TIDHOLM´S ABSTRACT STYLE
Tidholm's paintings strive to affirm the human instinctive need for balance and harmony. The paintings are characterized by their abstract expressionist nature. They are intended to provoke both thought and conversation, with oneself or others. What the painting adds is often a question of where it was hung. The artworks can inspire calm or inspire and energize.
His paintings are abstract, and the strongest means of expression are the atmospheric colors, and the distinctive and energetic directions of the brushstrokes.
Gustaf's paintings combine art with interior design. He paints to add pleasurable experiences to spaces, not to problematize an issue. The aim is for the artworks to ignite a spark of faith in the future, and to stimulate people's good and constructive thoughts.
In the creation and union between the painter and the paint, a kind of communication takes place like a dance, according to Tidholm, and that is why acrylics are so exciting because the drying time is so fast, it is a matter of letting go and control because the paint somehow has a will of its own.
In the production, Gustaf says it is a perfect of meditation. Not infrequently, he has an idea when he begins a painting, but it is rarely something that is realised, the result is usually something completely different, created in the inspiration of the moment. That's what's so wonderful about abstract painting, the emotion and the subconscious emerge and take over completely. The result is genuine and pure expressions that are amazing to try to interpret and put into words. At the same time, it is secondary to tell the viewer what the painting represents, of course it is interesting sometimes for the viewer to understand what the thoughts are in the artwork itself from the artist, but at the same time there is a lot of space for the viewer to put their own interpretations on what Gustaf Tidholm's motifs represent or convey.
Often it is in this very encounter with followers that really creates a great conversation with people. That they interpret freely and talk about what they see, how they want the painting to hang and why they bought the artwork or appreciate it so much. Encounters that create an amazing connection, and a way to reach out to people that creates even more need for continued creation.
It becomes a democratic process in what is a good artwork or not simply, where the viewer is involved and decides, through their input and feedback to the artist. In many ways, this is inspiration and a big part of the driving force, according to Tidholm.
WHAT IS GUSTAF TIDHOLM DOING NOW?
Gustaf Tidholm lives and paints in Stockholm, Sweden. He has developed his own style, mixing between expressionist and minimalist expressions where the movement of colour and form drives the process.
His paintings have been sold to many countries, and collaborations with foreign poster and carpet companies have recently begun. He has participated in group exhibitions in the past and had his first solo exhibition in Stockholm in June this year. An interview in a well-known Swedish interior design magazine was recently conducted, and his paintings have appeared in several issues in 2022 of the British lifestyle magazine Tatler.
Tidholm has had a fantastic start to the artistic career he has wanted to pursue for so long, and the future looks bright, there are so many incredible expressions that have yet to be reproduced, and that are in my subconscious, says Gustaf. In the future, he hopes to live and work abroad, perhaps in a warmer climate, to gain new impressions and inspiration.
Ongoing: Solo Exhibition at Solna Arthall between August 16 and September 6.
