While it is true that Henrik Isaksson Garnell is a 23-year-old Swedish photographer, when you look at Isaksson’s work one automatically must view him as so much more than that.  Sculptor and art director come to mind, as well as inventor or scientist.  There is a clear method and composition to his work that makes the admirer take a second look…. is that really what I think that is?

Isaksson brings life to everyday inanimate objects mostly found in nature.  He sculpts the objects to build an entirely new life form.  During this point in his creative process, Isaksson introduces a scientific element to the object; a circuit with colorful wires emerging from the inside of a conch shell, electrical wires shooting from the body of a plump dark eggplant, nuts and bolts or a small network of electrical wires around bones or vegetables.  The pieces manage to be simultaneously creepy and beautiful.  It’s as though you have a front seat to the experiments of a creative scientist, and you feel these objects should be viewed in a lab, rather than as an image.  As one views Isaksson’s work as a whole, you cannot help but notice that there is an “otherworldly” aspect to it.  The end result is due to the expertly balanced mix of the psychadelic meeting science fiction/ naturalist meets scientist.  His work can evoke a sort of “trippy” feeling, yet the artist’s restraint is what successfully seals each image as a masterpiece. 

Through Isaksson’s sculptures, he actually creates so much more than a picture.   According to the artist, he is staging daydreams and nightmares, he moves between surrealism and concretism to reach his aesthetic:  “nature meets technology.”

The fabled forest outside of Stockholm is where the artist calls home.  Isaakson trained in photography at Kulturama Fotoskola and then went on to work as an assistant for several years including some time spent with the art photographer DAWID and fashion photographer Andreas Kock.  In recent years Isaakson has been quite prolific, showing his work at many galleries in both group and solo exhibitions, while being represented by galleri ikon (Stockholm, Sweden).