Gustavsson, Martin

The project aims to throw light on the relationship between painting, gesture and performance in what has hitherto been categorized as homoerotic paintings, or paintings made by gay men. A brushstroke that embraces queer desire as one potential strategy to subvert formal conventions and genre standards, not only in what it depicts but mostly in how it is made.

If we look at paintings made by queer artists today and historically, can we ascertain or possibly read a specific freedom in the handling of paint or brushwork that would be faggoty or even camp? Can specific painterly techniques or materials such as brushes, color tonalities, motifs or perceptual situations be categorized as faggoty or simply unmanly? I have been circling these questions as a painter for decades and how they relate to the painted image, form and the rooms they occupy. With this research I will address these issues directly by examining and painting what I argue to be overlooked histories of painting and exhibition making. I will revisit numerous ‘faggoty’ works, including my own, through the prism of Ian White’s (1971-2013) writings on the concept of ‘live-ness’ and performance, a still under-researched theorist and artist who I collaborated with in London throughout the 2000's.

Martin Gustavsson (Sweden, 1964) lives and works between London and Stockholm. Gustavsson attended The Royal Institute of Fine Art in Stockholm 1994-96, and Middlesex University, UK, 1990-94. His works have been exhibited in Scandinavia and worldwide.

Recent solo exhibitions include;

• The Eye of the Minotaur (2023) Ronneby Konstcentrum
• Outside In (2023) Kalmar Konstmuseum
• Un Chant Ecarlate (2019) Konstakademien, Stockholm,
• El Mirage (2015); Participant Inc., New York.

In 2018 he participated in the collective exhibition l'Heure Rouge at the Dakar Biennial.

Gustavsson was until 2024 Senior Lecturer of painting at Konstfack in Stockholm, Sweden. He was also awarded IASPIS residencies in New York (1999-2000) and Stockholm (2007).

Main supervisor: Mara Lee Gerdén
Admitted to: Konstfack
Project period: 2024-2028