Born 1978; based in the southern Swedish city of Malmö.

Karl Valve

The pop artist Karl Valve is driven and inspired by the process of painting, the drive to express himself through the continual development of new techniques, new ideas. Karl throws himself into new environments photographing the form and design which arouse his curiosity, incorporating or even galvanizing striking images with the new materials Karl has become motivated to use. The mixed-media productions of Karl’s, the paint and canvas are often combined with the materials which we touch in our daily lives, aluminum, glass and plastic. The finished production exciting a vignette, a fragmentary image of our surroundings. Karl’s early interest and influence by pop art and graffiti culture can be seen together with the triggering influences of pop culture.


Karl Valve’s paintings exude fragments from both the present from the past. A sense of nostalgia appears, or even a subtle line of text …

Bo Bjelvehammar, Ystads Allehanda 2010-01-25

In his works, he combines a non-figurative lyrical expressionism with figurative fragments, and sometimes even texts. Overall, his paintings give off a dreamy and very appealing character …

Britte Montigny, Skånskan 2008-06-12

In his way of emphasising colours on different layers, it is difficult to get away from a reference of Ola Billgren…

Tor Billgren, Sydsvenskan 2008-06-19