Marianne Johansen’s paintings carry a direct and intimate presence. Bodies, colour, domestic fragments, friendship, community and emotional tension appear not as separate subjects, but as parts of the same lived experience. Her work moves between personal memory and bodily awareness, often transforming private feelings into images that are vulnerable, physical and immediate.

In her recent solo exhibition det knyter seg i magen (my stomach ties itself in knots) at Galleri Snerk, Johansen presented a collection of works developed over the past year. The title, which can be translated as “my stomach ties itself in knots”, already suggests a strong connection between emotion and the body: a feeling that is not only psychological, but also physical, internal and difficult to ignore.

For Nordrom Kunst, Marianne Johansen reflects on painting as a way to process experience, on friendship and community as sources of inspiration, and on the freedom of making work without forcing it into a fixed direction.

Nordrom Kunst

Your paintings seem to carry a very direct emotional and bodily presence, with strong colours, intimate scenes and a sense of lived experience. How would you describe the relationship between painting, body and emotion in your work?

Marianne Johansen

Most of my art is based on, and inspired by, my lived experience. I happen to be in a body with traditional feminine traits, and I have many experiences of how my body is perceived and treated, directly linked to my sex.

When I paint, I use my practice to deal with the emotions connected to the event I am trying to portray. Sometimes I am not even aware of what that emotion is until I put it into art.

For me, art, body and emotion are strongly connected. I would not have the same emotions if I were in a different body, and I would not feel the same need to express myself through art if I did not have these emotions. The art I make helps me heal and process those feelings.

Marianne Johansen, installation detail from det knyter seg i magen. Sculpture and two paintings from the exhibition. Courtesy of the artist.

Nordrom Kunst

I was interested in the way your works appear to draw from social situations, friendship, nightlife, community and personal memory. What role do these moments and relationships play in your artistic process?

Marianne Johansen

I find inspiration in my everyday life. My friends and my community are my muse.

I often find myself in awe of the personalities and relationships that surround me, and I have a longing, and an undeniable lust, to capture them. The art I make is both a love letter and a documentation of those moments.

Nordrom Kunst

Are you currently developing any new works, exhibitions, research or future projects that you would like to share with Nordrom Kunst readers? Is there anything about your current artistic direction that you can already anticipate?

Marianne Johansen

I have just finished my solo exhibition det knyter seg i magen, where I brought together a collection of works from the past year. I had been working on the idea of this exhibition for a while, and I feel that I managed to get what I wanted to say off my chest.

Right now, my focus is on finding new inspiration. I am trying out different things and seeing where they take me. I am making art for the sake of making art, without thinking that it needs to follow any specific direction.

It feels freeing. I am having fun, doing silly things that I would hardly even consider art. I am letting inspiration come to me without pressure, and I am excited to see where it brings me.

Through painting, Marianne Johansen gives form to what is often felt before it is fully understood: bodily tension, emotional memory, attraction, vulnerability, friendship and the need to process experience through image-making. Her work does not separate the personal from the artistic. Instead, it allows painting to become a space where the body speaks, remembers and transforms.

Find out more about Marianne Johansen works on her Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/tegning.jpg/

Cover image of the article: Navlebeskue, 2025
Acrylic on canvas
Courtesy photo of the artist, Marianne Johansen.