Julia Selin

Overview

Julia Selin is a contemporary Swedish painter, born in 1986 in Trollhättan, who lives and works in Malmö. She holds an MFA from the Umeå Academy of Fine Arts and has also studied at the Nordic Art School in Finland. Recent Exhibition includes Julia Selin knows nothing about the trees, Matteo Cantarella, Copenhagen, DK, (2024); Moth Paths, Tara Downs, New York, US (2023); Present Nature, Alma Löv Museum of Unexpected Art, Smedsby, SE (2023); Follow a bug to the end of the World, Trollhättans Konsthall, Copenhagen, DE (2022); Consequences, Galleri Thomas Wallner, Simris SE (2022); Scandinavian rot, Galleri Cora Hillebrand, Gothenburg, SE (2020).

Julia Selin’s work unfolds in pictorial space between landscape and abstraction, marked by a strong atmospheric density. Working with reduced, often nearly monochrome palettes, she creates environments that resist clear localization, oscillating between an external experience of nature and inner perception. These take shape as images that evoke states rather than depict landscapes. Selin’s work centers on what lies beneath the visible surface: a pressure from below, a rising of form out of depth.

In her recent works, these processes condense into spatial formations that appear both closed and permeable. Dark fields of color open into subtle shifts of light and pigment. Vertical elements structure the space without stabilizing it; lines dissolve into vibrating movements. The paintings feel less composed than uncovered, as if they continue to unfold in the act of viewing.

A tension emerges between proximity and withdrawal, between physically tangible materiality and a visual logic that resists clear readability. Selin’s painting refuses a clear separation between interior and exterior. Nature appears here not as a motif, but as a condition—something that passes through the body and takes on a new form within the image.

Her work is shaped by layering, condensation, and reworking. The surface remains visible as the result of a physical process: traces of applying, removing, and reapplying paint structure the works and give them a fragile yet immediate presence. The paintings develop less from a predetermined motif than through the act of painting itself.

In this openness, Selin’s practice engages with traditions of Nordic painting without aligning itself with them directly. Instead, she translates questions of nature, perception, and emotion into a contemporary visual language that moves deliberately between figuration and dissolution.

Works

Julia Selin
Rendezvous at the horizon, 2024
Julia Selin
The deepest dream in the world, 2024

Biography

Education

2011 - 13 Master of Fine Arts, Umeå Art Academy
2007 - 10 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Umeå Art Academy
2005 - 07 The Nordic Artschool, Kokkola, Finland

Other
2015 - ongoing Founder and Co-ordinator at Alta Art space, Malmö

Solo/duo Exhibitions

2026

Sun's show, Galerie Leu, Munich
2025
Ghost relief, Tørreloft, Copenhagen, DK (with Andreas Rasmussen)
Kiss me said the fire, Galleri Thomas Wallner, Malmö, SE
2024
Julia Selin knows nothing about the trees, Matteo Cantarella, Copenhagen, DK
2023
Moth Paths, Tara Downs, New York, US
Market Art Fair Stockholm with Galleri Flach (with Matti Sumari) SE
The artist’s dream of the insect’s innermost desire, Krognoshuset, Lund, (with Matti Sumari) SE
2022
Chart Art Fair with Cora Hillebrand Gallery (with Viktor Rosdahl), DK
Follow a bug to the end of the World, Trollhättans Konsthall (with Matti Sumari) SE
Consequences, Galleri Wallner, Simris, SE
2021
Hot sap, Rörsjögatan 10, Malmö (with Matti Sumari) SE
2020
Scandinavian rot, Galleri Cora Hillebrand, Gothenburg, SE
Hot soggy night writings, Galleri Flach, Stockholm, SE
Nightcrawlers, Wanås Konst, Knislinge (with Haidar Mahdi), SE
2019
Root rot caused by live liquid, Galleri Wallner, Simris, SE
2018
Leap wade sink swim run fly creep, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, SE
2017
WRONG PATH, Galleri Flach, Stockholm, SE
2016
Names are too intimate, Galleri Ping-Pong, Malmö, SE
2014
Förna & Tidevann, Galleri Box, Göteborg, (with Hannah Rosvoll) SE
Soft ground, Galleri Flach, Stockholm, SE
2013
Through an Eternal Stream of Nights, Trollhättans Konsthall (with Stina Persson) SE
2012
A Black Snake as a Path to Walk Upon, The Art Academy Gallery, Umeå SE
2009
Mammals, B-galleria, Turku, (with Matti Sumari and Jaakko Pallasvuo) FIN

Group exhibitions
2025
Through this, that, Coulisse Gallery, Stockholm, SE
Tibbarödsbiennalen, Tibbaröd, SE
Utan sol vi gnor, Galleri Cora Hillebrand, Göteborg, SE
2024
Ride or die III: SCANDIC HELL, Hell, Norway
Chart Art Fair with Matteo Cantarella, Copenhagen, DK
Polyfoni, Galleri Thomas Wallner, Simris, SE
Diva Portal, Skene, Malmö, SE
2023
Paralleluniversum, Porte, Leipzig, DE
Farbforscher, Werkhalle Wiesenburg, Berlin, DE
Present Nature, Alma Löv Museum, Östra Ämtervik, SE
Sunless Press, Galleri Cora Hillebrand, Göteborg, SE
Vår vår, Molekyl Gallery, Malmö, SE
2022
In the City Grows a Field, Malmö Konsthall, SE
2021
Malmö so there, Galleri Wallner, Simris, SE
2020
Songs for Sigge, Celsius Projects, Malmö, SE
Polyfoni 5, Group exhibition at Galleri Wallner, Simris, SE
Mörkveden, Malmö Konsthall, SE
2019
100, Galleri cc, Malmö, SE
Spooky action at a distace, Galleri Nos, Stockholm, SE
2018
Clara Gasang-Gottowt, Sofie Josefsson, Nicklas Randau och Julia Selin på Galleri Wallner c/o Hight Court, Malmö, Sweden
Evolution and Comfort, Ta-da space, Copenhagen, DK
Velvet Ropes, Galleri Golsa, Oslo, NO
The Painter, Strandverket Konsthall, Marstrand, SE
Box Play, 8. Salon, Hamburg, DE
Malmö so there, Galleri Wallner, Simris, SE
2017
WHAT DO YOU REPRESENT NOW? Plan 5, Stockholm, SE
The Island of Blossoming trees, Drömmarnas växthus, Malmö, SE Campsite, Harrison Hill Road, Swannanoa, NC, USA
Selvskabt Modvind, Sunday-s Gallery, Copenhagen, DK
På annan plats, Ystads Konstmuseum, SE
Polyfoni, Galleri Wallner, Simris, SE
2016
Leonard Forslund, Sigrid Sandström och Julia Selin, Galleri Wallner/High Court, Malmö, SE
Deep inside, V Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow, RU
Calculation, Kurgan Regional Art Museum, Kurgan, RU
Grant exhibition, Royal Academy of Art, Stockholm, SE
2015
Map of the New Art: Imago Mundi, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, IT
Market Art Fair, Galleri Flach, Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm, SE
2014
Market Art Fair, Galleri Flach, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, SE
2013
24 Spaces, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, SE
Farewell My Lovely, Bildmuseet, Umeå, SE
Döden som sover, Galleri Flach, Stockholm, SE
HÄR, The Art Academy Gallery, Umeå, SE
2011
The Reflecting Landscape, Bildmuseet, Umeå, SE
2010
Europa Underground, Clab Gallery, Lodi, IT
2010
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bildmuseet Umeå, SE

Grants

2025 Karin and Gösta Rittners travel grant, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts
2025 Erik och Inger Ohlsson- Ekdahl’s grant, Ystad Art Museum
2024 Two year working grant from the Swedish Art Grants Commitee
2021 Sparbankstiftelsen skåne’s culture grant
2019 Two year working grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee
2017 Exhibition grant, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts
2016 Ellen Trotzig’s grant, Malmö Art Museum
2016 Jenny Lind’s travel grant, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts
2016 Trollhättan’s culture grant
2015 Vera och Göran Agnekil’s grant, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts
2014 One year working grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee
2013 Grant from Umeå municipality Cultural Committee, Umeå, Sweden

Collections

Statens Konstråd
Malmö Konstmuseum
Ystad Konstmuseum
Apoteketes konstförening
Region Skåne
Nya Karolinska sjukhuset
Bonniers Konstförening
Trollhättans kommun
Umeå kommun
Sveriges Allmänna konstförening
Private collections

Exhibitions

Julia Selin
Sun's show 7 May - 13 Jun 2026
We are very pleased to present Julia Selin’s first exhibition in Germany.

The Swedish painter creates pictorial spaces that oscillate between landscape and abstraction. Rooted in a process-oriented and physically driven approach to painting, her works possess a remarkable atmospheric density. Within often reduced, at times almost monochromatic color palettes, spaces unfold that resist clear categorization, instead moving between an external experience of nature and an inner, psychological dimension.

Read more

Bibliography

2025 Painted in the Moth Sphere, Skene
2025 Rendezvouz at the Horizon, Sunless Press
2023 The Insects Innermost Desire, Sunless Press
2022 I staden växer ett fält, Malmö Konsthall
2018 Leap wade sink swim run fly creep, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts
2016 Deep Inside, 5th Moscow Biennale of Young art
2015 Kris och Kritik nr 5/6
2015 Archive of Visions and Actions: Contemporary Art from Sweden, Imago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection
2015 Tomoko #3 France
2013 Farewell my lovely, MFA 2013, Umeå Art Academy
2012 YESYES #1 Germany
2011 Tomoko #2 France
2010 Ruby Mag #56 Argentina
2010 Tomoko #1 France
2010 Waterfall Magazine #3, Taiwan
2009 The evening of the best day of my life, for Bakers Dozen, Australia
2009 Megaverse and other stories (with Jaakko Pallasvuo) published by Medium rare, USA

Press

2o25 Christine Antaya, Kunstkritikk.se
2025 Kristina Mezei, Omkonst.se
2023 Thomas Millroth, Sydsvenskan
2020 Milou Allerholm, DN
2020 Magnus Bons, Konsten.net
2020 Thomas Millroth, Sydsvenskan
2018 Joanna Persman, SvD
2018 Johanna Theander, Konsten.net
2017 Poetens delrapport, Leif Mattson, Omkonst.se
2017 Feature at Sunday-s.dk
2017 Konsten.net frågeformulär
2016 Interview at Young-space.com
2016 Artlover nr 27
2016 Tröstande Måleri, Christine Antaya, Sydsvenska
2014 T ätt måleri i dialog med traditionen, Milou Allerholm, Dagens Nyheter
2014 Jorden vi ärvde, Leif Mattson, Omkonst.se
2014 Galleridebut som bränner till, Clemens Poellinger Svenska Dagbladet
2013 Drömmen (och dess icke-uppfyllande ), Kunstkritikk