Journal

Stay up to date with the latest news from WILLAS contemporary.

Explore the photography art scene with us through exclusive insights into our upcoming and current exhibitions in Stockholm and elsewhere. Plus, revisit the highlights from our previous encounters.

Model wearing two hats, monochrome minimalism, bastiaan woudt

MONOCHROMATIC MINIMALISM


by Bastiaan Woudt

— a contemporary twist to classic photography

We are thrilled to introduce Bastiaan Woudt (1987, NL) and welcome you to his first solo exhibition in the Nordic countries!

The exhibition is open Monday - Friday 9 am - 5 pm - DM us for more information!

WILLAS contemporary — IVAR - Tändstickspalatset - Våstra Trådgårdsgatan 15 - Stockholm.

BODIES IN SILENCE

by Helene Schmitz

Helene Schmitz’s work is a photographic account of the indelible mark left by the abusive relationship between humans and nature. Schmitz links her sober and revealing photographs to the rich tradition of landscape painting, using a large-format, analogue camera that enables the viewer to study both the overall vista and the small details.

NICK BRANDT - SINK RISE AKESSA AND MARIA, FIJI 2023

SINK / RISE by Nick Brandt

SINK / RISE is the third chapter of The Day May Break, an ongoing global series portraying people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction. This third chapter focuses on South Pacific Islanders impacted by rising oceans from climate change. The people in these photos, photographed underwater in the ocean off the coast of the Fijian islands, are representatives of the many people whose homes, land and livelihoods will be lost in the coming decades as the water rises.

Everything is shot in-camera underwater.

 
WILLAS contemporary - Autumn 2023

AUTUMN OF 2023

We are delighted to announce upcoming exhibitions and events involving the artists we work with. In this post, we share our highlights with dates and venues for you to consider. 

HELENE SCHMITZ  I August 31st I Studies in Falling at Flack I STHLM
AdeY I September 6th I Collectors FIKA I Fotografiska STHLM (By Invitation Only)
ARNO RAFAEL MINKKINEN I September 1st I HUMAN I KANT Denmark
VEE SPEERS I September 5th I Guilty not Guilty I Galerie XII Photofairs NY
JIMMY NELSON I September 19th I Humanity I Piazzo Reale Milan
LENE MARIE FOSSEN I September 30th I The Gatekeeper I Visby Gotland
ROGER BALLEN I The World According to Roger Ballen I October 13th I Fotografiska Tallinn








NICK BRANDT


The Day May Break

SLIPERIET IN BORGVIK - SWEDEN

WILLAS contemporary proudly presents an exhibition by one of photography’s great environmental champions, Nick Brandt. The Day May Break,  photographed in Zimbabwe and Kenya in late 2020 and in Bolivia in March 2022 are the first parts of a global series portraying people and animals impacted by environmental degradation and destruction.

JIMMY NELSON

Between the Sea and the Sky

Exhibition at IVAR - Tändstick Palatset - Stockholm
WILLAS contemporary is proud to be the first to present Between the Sea and the Sky by Jimmy Nelson outside the Netherlands. Fourteen carefully selected, large-scale photographs will grace the walls of IVAR Stockholm at the Tändstick Palatset until May 12th.

JEFF COWEN - SOLOSHOW

Photo London 10 - 14th of May

Somerset House

For Photo London 2023 - WILLAS contemporary proudly presents a solo show by the American artist Jeff Cowen in booth W09.

Jeff Cowen is interested in mating the power of painting with the power of photography. Working solely in analogue, he endeavours to make the unfathomable and sublime visible. All the works are silver-gelatine prints and handmade in his customised darkroom.

The images on view with WILLAS contemporary during Photo London are a selection from Jeff Cowen’s practice during his Berlin years, where he started intensively experimenting with the painterly approaches in the darkroom.

News from ROGER BALLEN

The Inside Out Centre for the Arts will open in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Tuesday, 28 March 2023, with an exhibition highlighting the African continent's ecological crisis.

The Inside Out Centre for the Arts is an art exhibition space and educational centre founded by internationally renowned artist-photographer Roger Ballen.



ARNO RAFAEL MINKKINEN

Five Favorites from Five Decades

Reception & Exhibition in Oslo 9th of March 2023

The man, the myth, the legend - Arno Rafael Minkkinen returned to Norway to contribute to the Nature Photography Festival in Ski 2023. We had the immense pleasure of hosting an intimate reception in Mr Minkkinen's honour in Oslo on the 9th of March.

 
Cig Harvey - In Bloom at Fotografiska

Introducing CIG HARVEY

In Bloom at Fotografiska until June 11th 2023

Timed with the emerging burst of spring, In Bloom at Fotografiska brings together 16 photographers, all striving to understand and explore nature and humanity’s relationship to it.

One of them is the renowned British photographer Cig Harvey:

“There is war. There is a virus. In the time it took to write this sentence, somebody died, somebody was born, a language disappeared, a mass shooting occurred, a forest burn began, an insect crushed, and an idea inched forward.

"My pictures are an urgent call to live. A primal roar. Be here, now. Experience this. Feel this.
My pictures are of flowers, but they are not about flowers; they are about living and dying.”

 

HELENE SCHMITZ - Globe Works

In Bloom at Fotografiska until June 11th 2023

Schmitz´s work is about the connection between humans and nature; it is about transitions and how everything is transformed into something else.

For the exhibition IN BLOOM - Helene Schmitz revisited her archives and discovered works from Costa Rica, from the Cloud forest Santa Helena, in 2017. It is a vulnerable ecosystem threatened by global warming. Schmitz decided to present these works as circular images - something she had never done before. The prints are mounted as dibond with beautiful handmade walnut frames. The Circle is a symbol of perfection and how everything is connected.

Vee Speers at Villa Dagmar in Stockholm

VEE SPEERS at Villa Dagmar

Jan - Apr. 2023

A new collaboration with Villa Dagmar in Stockholm. This newly opened boutique hotel in the heart of Östermalm invites galleries and artists to collaborate in the hotel's social spaces.  We chose works by the Paris-based Australian artist Vee Speers as our second showcase. 

The selected works are from Speers’ Dystopia, speaking directly of a world that has come unhinged. Yet even if the sun goes cold and fear is present, her imagery speaks of freedom.  

Fashioned from Nature

8.12-8.1.2023 online exclusive on ARTSY

A selection of works by Australian-born, Paris-based artist Vee Speers reflecting on the connection and influence of nature on fashion. It presents a selection of fashion-like photographs which she styled and staged on her famous rooftop terrace in Paris and botanic still lifes.

ANTON CORBIJN — #5

29.9 - 9.10 at Sotheby’s in Stockholm

WILLAS contemporary is thrilled to present the exhibition entitled #5 by the Dutch artist Anton Corbijn at Sotheby’s in Stockholm.

Anyone with a slight interest in visual culture and music are familiar with Corbijn´s work. He is known to have shaped the identity of bands like U2 and Depeche Mode and visualised popular music for the past 40 years. The way Corbijn captured his subjects using grainy film in natural light has become an integral part of our visual culture.

HELENE SCHMITZ —
Thinking Like a Mountain

23.9 - 16.10 at Oslo Negativ

WILLAS contemporary is thrilled to present Helene Schmitz’s Thinking Like a Mountain — photographic explorations of the power balance between man and nature – and what happens when it goes off kilter.

LENE MARIE FOSSEN — Human

1.9 - 26.2.2023 at OPEN MUSEUM - St. Gallen

Even though it is highly topical, the subject of anorexia is taboo. For the first time outside Scandinavia, the exhibition HUMAN by Lene Marie Fossen will present the Norwegian photographer Lene Marie Fossen’s [1986–2019] powerful self-portraits.

Offering Beauty back to the Balance

A Group Show on ARTSY

We are thrilled to share with you our summer show "Offering Beauty Back to the Balance" - a careful selection of works by some of our favorite artists; Roger Ballen, Nick Brandt, Jeff Cowen, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Jimmy Nelson, Helene Schmitz, Jan C. Schlegel and Erle Kyllingmark

"When the world is falling apart it is extra urgent to offer beauty back to the balance as an act of redemption."

- Jeff Cowen.

NICK BRANDT - Green Tech Festival

22 - 24 June 2022

GTF presents an exhibition by one of photography’s great environmental champions, Nick Brandt. The Day May Break,  photographed in Zimbabwe and Kenya late 2020 and in Bolivia in March 2022 are the first parts of a global series portraying people and animals impacted by environmental degradation and destruction.

WILLAS contemporary takes the stage at

Photo BASEL

14 -19 June 2022


WILLAS contemporary is thrilled to announce the participation at Photo BASEL (Booth A3), bringing together acclaimed artists who are at the forefront of movements for change, grappling with society’s most prescient challenges, injustices, hopes, and joys: Roger Ballen, Nick Brandt, and Jeff Cowen

Photo BASEL is Switzerland's first art fair dedicated to photography and takes place at the Volkshaus Basel, a recently renovated Art Deco building with a bar, brasserie and beer garden, about a 10-minute walk from the Messeplatz, the central square where Art Basel is held.

ROGER BALLEN - Venice Bienale

 We are very proud to announce that Roger Ballen will be one of the featured artists that will represent South Africa at the Venice Biennale Arte 2022, themed "The Milk of Dreams".

The South African stand was conceptualised around the sub-theme of "Into the Light."

Thus, instead of showing photographic prints from his series, "The Theatre of Apparitions", he will alternatively showcase these carefully selected works on lightboxes to accentuate the metaphoric relationship between light and dark. 

 
Halima,-Abdul-and-Frida, Kenya-2020.jpg

NICK BRANDT

— The Day May Break

WILLAS contemporary is pleased to present Nick Brandt: The Day May Break at Oslo Negativ in October. The exhibition comprises of 35 new works, made in 2020, as part of the first in a global series of images portraying people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction.

Photograph: ‘Halima, Abdul and Frida, Kenya-2020’ by Nick Brandt.

 

Building an art collection

The focus of the L CAPITAL GROUP collection is contemporary photography created by living artists dealing with the human condition in one way or another. Artworks sourced by WILLAS contemporary.

 
Smoked Out_2020.jpg

ROGER BALLEN - Roger the Rat

WILLAS contemporary is pleased to present Roger Ballen and Roger the Rat at Oslo Negativ in October. The work is composed of a series of black and white photographs produced in Johannesburg between 2015 and 2020, accompanied by a video made during the months of confinement. 

Photograph: ‘Smoked Out 2020´ by Roger Ballen.

 

 

20 21 Artists in support of Human Rights Watch

We curated Artists in Support of Human Rights Watch 20 21: 41 works from established and emerging artists commenting on the current state of the world. A truly global, diverse group of artists deploy a variety of mediums, including photography, textile, sculpture, and more.

Full-Service Art Programme

A flexible and tailored, full service art programme based on the Glen Bjørnholt Collection, facilitated by WILLAS contemporary for Norway's largest lawyer firm WIKBORG REIN

 
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Residence Magazine - as inspiration

Villa Sofieberg in Stockholm made the cover story in the latest issue of Residence Magazine in Sweden. Placing contemporary art pieces in the carefully restored historical villa from mid 1700 has been an inspiring project and we are pretty pleased with the vibe.

 

Photography on walls

The best sushi restaurant in Scandinavia for the past 16 years loves to present photography on its walls. We are proud to be collaborating with ALEX sushi in Oslo on sourcing photography for the restaurant.

Book your table today!

Roger Ballen - Scrap collector holding globe, 1998

On Collecting Photography

Whether you are interested in an artwork for your living room, beginning a collection or augmenting an existing one, WILLAS contemporary can source and recommend photographs based on your specifications. With expertise ranging from emerging artists to established masters, we specialize in photography which is bold yet technically accomplished. Our expertise enables the acquisition of works with value and longevity in addition to resonating with the individual collector.


The WILLAS App

Finding the right art piece for a space can be a challenge. There are so many things to consider - and you might find it difficult to envision the end result. 

We decided to make it inspiring and fun; The new WILLAS app allows you to view artwork in your space before you buy. Download the app to your iPad or iPhone to virtually install any art piece from our collection in your home or office.



 

Press

We have been blessed with a fair share of press coverage since WILLAS contemporary was founded on October 8th 2015. Below, we share some of the articles that have been published. Click on images to read the articles.

For press inquiries - please contact us at press@willas.com