Samuel Åhlman is an artist from Sweden who creates primarily with oil on panels and canvas.
His distinct style of abstract, geometric, and vibrant landscapes brings to mind the works of Kandinsky or Garczyński.
The artist strikes a perfect balance, effortlessly combining an otherworldly aesthetic with the organic simplicity of form and color. His paintings carry a certain nostalgia, like a feeling of indescribable longing that we feel gazing at the full moon.
He paints not only the landscapes but also an all-encompassing presence of nature and its ever-lasting beauty. By applying an abstract filter to the familiar sceneries, Åhlman’s works gain an eternal, universal quality.
His abstract oil landscapes are reactive expressions of the environment. He focuses deeply on the process, embracing the idea that the final piece should emerge organically from the acts of creation rather than a predetermined outcome.
The artist is a pragmatic adept of causal cycles, removing himself completely from the narrative and letting the final work stand entirely on its own. “I avoid taking on the responsibility for the result too early in the process of a painting,” Åhlman says. There are no hidden meanings that are driving his creation; as he notes, “The point of painting is to paint and, by that, end up with a painting.”
The two-dimensional sunsets bathe in reflective waves, where the lake or the sea becomes one with inert clouds and geometric celestial bodies. The painter succeeds in funneling the world into the confines of a compact, narrow vision, akin to looking through a horse’s blinkers. “Geographically unspecific landscapes. I build a landscape that I know; I paint a landscape that I know,” says Åhlman. In this compressed, oversimplified world, the artist does not seek to understand meaning but rather to witness its effects.
Read our “Roots” issue in full
The new theme, born as usual from what the submitted works held in common, is “ROOTS.” Within its pages, we present the artworks, creativity, and inspiration of 60 visual artists and writers from 21 countries around the world. Their diverse voices come together around a shared exploration of the return to where one belongs, the invisible threads of tradition that shape identity, and the ongoing reconnection with nature, others, and oneself.
We’re a team of writers using our craft to spotlight art in its most honest form. RAWGUE. started as a bi-monthly editorial experiment where each issue’s theme is dictated by the submitted work, thus removing editorial bias from the equation and preserving a more raw approach. We focus on all forms of poetry: written, photographed, painted, drawn, and filmed.
