Ragnar Persson
Ragnar Persson (b. 1980, SE) is a versatile artist whose practice extends across a range of formats and media. He is perhaps best known for his highly detailed pencil drawings, often incorporating collage, in which Persson brings together his recurring motifs to create an enchanting visual world imbued with a romantic affinity for nature, youthful rebelliousness and folklore.
Persson spent his childhood summers in northern Sweden, an experience that has left a lasting imprint on his work. The landscapes he painstakingly renders are populated by motifs readily associated with the aesthetics of heavy metal, including skulls, snakes, and long-haired youths. Alongside these are flowers and the most delicate of birds, providing a dreamy counterpoint. Everything is framed by dark coniferous forests and punctuated by the artist’s own name; “RAGNAR,” repeated again and again like graffiti scribbled in the margins of a school notebook.
Persson’s drawing practice is closely intertwined with his broader, comparatively untamed artistic output. His oeuvre encompasses LP covers and fanzines, as well as the casually executed ink drawings in which birds, skeletons and ghosts come into being before eventually finding their way into the grey-scale forests. According to Persson, the more controlled aspect of his practice could not exist without its less orderly counterpart. The two are dependent on one another.
Ragnar Persson holds an MFA from Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. His work is represented in numerous Swedish collections, including the collection of Moderna Museet.