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Beckers Art Award 2026 goes to Johan Carlsson Ström
The Beckers Art Award, a grant of SEK 200,000 along with exhibitions at Färgfabriken in Stockholm and KKAM Höganäs, is being presented for the 39th successive year. The 2026 recipient of this award is Johan Carlsson Ström (born in 1985), who lives and works in Stockholm, having graduated from HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design in 2024.
Solo exhibition, Färgfabriken
31 January – 15 March 2026
Jury Statement
Through the medium of painting, Johan Carlsson Ström rediscovers recognisable environments, with perception alternating between fiction and reality-based reference points, giving them a distinct painterly style. This could be photos from film, the internet or archive material, interspersed with the miniature world of doll’s houses. Models from crime scenes also crop up as an alternative source of inspiration. Images and places depicted are imbued with a certain aura, as if something significant has taken place. A significant occurrence is evident at a crime scene, while the static environment of a doll’s house instead communicates a frozen world, something that can be perceived as somewhat strange in perspective and size. It creates a sense of wonder, drawing us into the artist’s primal fascination with subject and place.
Johan Carlsson Ström exploits the physical, flexible properties of paint; he works with and manipulates it as a material to achieve both abstract and figurative effects. He employs a subdued colour palette, forcing us to sharpen our gaze and senses to penetrate the intuitively applied elements. The choice of subjects as a kind of narrative collage gives us access to a visual world that the artist appears to model from the varied constituent components of the paint. The refined layers of paint in the pictures are transformed into portraits with a lingering presence.
Johan Carlsson Ström has been chosen as the recipient of the 2026 Beckers Art Award for the reason that his artistic ambitions clearly show that painting as a medium manages to attract new interest and produce new means of expression with each new generation. He shows that paint can be used as both a figurative medium and a sculptural material, integrated with the actual image canvas. He also shows that painting itself generously welcomes a specific, personal impression from a highly talented artist. It is a style of painting that draws us into the labyrinth and puts us in touch with its diverse practice and rich history.
On behalf of the jury/Magnus Jensner
About the Artist
Johan Carlsson Ström (born in 1985) is a Swedish artist from Halmstad, currently based in Stockholm. After studying at Markaryds Folkhögskola (2003–2004), he took an extended break from art to work as a teacher. In 2019, he returned to his artistic practice, studying at Dômen Art School (2019–2020) and the Gerlesborg School of Fine Art (2020–2021), and earning his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from HDK-Valand in 2024.
Primarily working in painting, Carlsson Ström treats colour as a physical material-processed, manipulated, and shaped into both abstract and representational expressions. Drawing inspiration from crime scenes, archives, film, and internet forums, he allows familiar settings to emerge in paintings that navigate between fiction and reality.
He has received grants from the Otto and Charlotte Mannheimer Foundation (2023, 2024), Carl Larsson Art Academy (2024), and the Ester Lindahl Travel Grant (2025). His work has been exhibited at Galleri 54 (2021), the Gothenburg Museum of Natural History (2023), Galleri Hammarén (2024), and Konstepidemin (2024), among others.
About the Beckers Art Award
The Beckers Art Award was established in 1987 by Ulf and Viviann Lindén and has consistently demonstrated a rare ability to foresee and recognise artists whose practices go on to inspire and shape the Swedish art scene. Previous recipients include Jockum Nordström, Dan Wolgers, Nathalie Djurberg, Theresa Traore Dahlberg, and Lisa Englund.
The award aims to highlight and support pioneering creative voices in Sweden, and includes a solo exhibition at Färgfabriken in Stockholm and KKAM in Höganäs, as well as a monetary prize of SEK 200,000.
The jury consists of: Jenny Lindén Urnes, Mårten Castenfors, and Magnus Jensner.
