Joakim Ojanen, born in 1985 in Västerås, Sweden, he lives and works in Stockholm. Ojanen received a BA and an MFA in Crafts and Design at Konstfack University College of Arts, Stockholm in 2012 and 2014 respectively.

Ojanen’s journey into the arts began with graffiti in his teenage years. Later came other art forms, including drawing and animation. He dove into the digital world, making animations for short movies and music videos. But his path took a radical turn in 2009 when he felt the need for a new challenge, prompting his application to Konstfack, Stockholm’s leading school of applied arts. A few years later, looking for a new pastime, he enrolled in an open ceramics studio not connected to the school. Here, he began transforming his drawings into sculptures. The early sketches from his time at Konstfack evolved into the acclaimed three-dimensional sculptures now recognised throughout Scandinavia and internationally, from Hong Kong and Los Angeles to Tokyo and New York. Ojanen’s work, celebrated for its unique blend of humour, expressionism, and comic book aesthetics, draws viewers into a captivating, albeit bizarre, world. “I see the characters I make as some kind of self-portraits or even a diary. They are made in the moment and the postures and moods of the character often refect how I feel or what I think about,” Ojanen says, offering insight into the deeply personal nature of his work.

Ojanen’s ceramic sculptures represent a way for him to show us who he is. Each work tells a bit of his story, showing parts of his life and how he sees the world, allowing access to parts of the artist himself. “When the studio is filled with pieces I really feel like I’m home,” he says. “It’s like my thoughts and feelings become physical and that relaxes me.”

– Astrid Birnbaum, VOGUE Scandanavia, 2024