For the love of vibrant colours and playful shapes

At The Ode To we are always curious to learn more about creativity and artistry, so we asked artist Josefin Norlin to tell us a little bit about her life, her art and her sources of inspiration.

What inspired you to create the artworks you have made for The Ode To?

– My endless love for vibrant colours and playful shapes.

What technique have you used?

– I’ve created these artworks using mixed media. A mixture of gouache, acrylic and graphite on paper, as well as gouache plus graphite and acrylic plus graphite.

What do you call your series of artworks?

IMAGINÄR. Since all images are reproductions of real life, in one way or another, I like to think of my paintings as imaginary. Imaginative, but imaginary.

Can you tell us about your background and how you came to be an artist?

– I’m a visual artist from Gothenburg and I grew up in a creative and hardworking family. My parents each had their own business and life has always been about doing what you love and working really hard to get it. As a kid I constantly daydreamed about being a children’s books illustrator, an artist, or a poet. I kind of always knew that I was going to work in the creative field in one way or another. I studied painting at an art school in Gothenburg and art & architectural history at the university. I´m also a trained decorator/visual merchandiser. I’ve worked in retail and conceptual development for many years as an interior architect, and that gave me a hands-on approach to most things. I pursued my childhood dream of becoming a children’s books illustrator and author a couple of years ago when I released my first children’s book, and now I’m working on my fourth. Painting and visual art has always been a constant for me: I paint to self-medicate, to process, to evolve and to inspire. I’m drawn to classic motifs such as portraits and still life paintings. I love bold and bright colours and often find myself painting people, plants, and interiors. I have a quite naive and expressive style with quirky details, but occasionally I do visits to a darker side.

What other artists do you admire?  

– Henri Matisse. I admire his expressive use of colour and his fluent brush strokes. He mixed simple shapes and more maximalist interiors and portraits in a way that really speaks to me.

How would you describe your art and aesthetics in three words?

– Imaginative, vibrant, expressive.


What we love about Josefin Norlin:

The bold energy, the vibrant colours and the classic yet modern motifs: there’s nothing we don’t love about the art by Josefin Norlin.