Gustaf explores the dynamic interplay between physical and mental images through figurative painting. An interaction that, according to him, inevitably challenges our realistic relationship with the image and its references. In his work, Gustaf reflects the idea that the properties of an image cannot be observed without distortion; that the image transcends both its physical form and the observer's mind—where some of its properties reside—once it is observed. His creative process is rooted in ideas and theories, unfolding through a deductive process of accumulation where visual impulses are dramatized and brought to life in a private associative play. As these associations develop, a hyper-image eventually emerge from the fragmentary contexts that initially shaped it, and it is these hyper-images that interest him on a theoretical level.

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Gustaf argues that the implicit nature of the hyper-image is impossible to separate from our perceptual frame of reference, even when its explicit form is physically manifested. This, he claims, makes the hyper-image elusive and impossible to fully apply or comprehend. For Gustaf, this phenomenon exemplifies how real things come into being, even though they lack direct connections to what we usually consider real; and that real things can, in fact, remain unknown regardless of our study of their character.

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Gustaf’s exhibition The Erosion of Reason invites the viewer into an emotional, immanent role-play, where nostalgia is simulated by blending zeal and loss. A game that hides the floor beneath a sea of lava. We begin by imagining that everything takes place on an island...