After a decade designing for Vivienne Westwood, Gjoen built a practice that the Wallace Collection, Meissen and the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection have all collaborated with or acquired. His limited edition giclée prints on cotton rag, often hand-finished with gold leaf, are held in collections from Haifa to Hackney.
Art of Protest Gallery has worked with Magnus since the gallery opened, including on exclusive editions made for our collectors. Browse his available prints, sculptures and lenticulars below, or contact the gallery to discuss a specific piece.
About Magnus Gjoen
Born in London in 1979 to Norwegian parents, Magnus Gjoen grew up between Switzerland, Denmark, Italy and the UK. He studied design in London and Milan before working for ten years as a denim and graphic designer at Vivienne Westwood.
He describes himself as an accidental artist. The story he tells is that he started making images to fill the walls of his London flat, was complimented enough to keep going, and eventually the side project became the practice. His debut solo show at Hang-Up Gallery in 2012 was called Between Heaven and Hell, which is a fair description of the territory the work has stayed in since.
Gjoen now lives and works in London. His paintings, prints, sculptures and home objects are held in collections including the Haifa Museum of Art and the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection, and his collectors include Kate Moss, Kylie Jenner and Graham Norton.
Magnus Gjoen's printmaking process
Gjoen starts by sourcing high-resolution imagery from museum archives and historical sources, then builds compositions digitally, layering Renaissance portraits, Baroque ornament, porcelain patterns and contemporary subjects into a single image. The technique is collage in the lineage that runs from Picasso and Braque through Pop Art to the digital tools available now.
The finished file is output as a limited edition giclée print on cotton rag paper, with archival pigment inks. Most editions are signed, numbered and finished by hand. Gold leaf, screenprinted gloss varnish and other detail work are often added after the print is pulled, so each piece in an edition has its own slight variation.
Alongside the prints, Gjoen also produces lenticular editions, porcelain sculptures and occasional cast bronze pieces.
Themes in Magnus Gjoen's work
The subjects come from two worlds that don't usually meet. On one side, sacred and decorative imagery from the Northern Renaissance and Baroque, religious icons, porcelain, ornamental pattern. On the other, weapons, skulls, grenades and bombs. Gjoen renders the destructive things with the same care a Renaissance painter gave to a saint, and the result is unsettling on purpose.
The thread that runs through most of the work is memento mori, the centuries-old idea that beauty and death sit closer together than we want them to. Vanitas paintings used skulls and wilting flowers to remind 17th-century viewers of their own mortality. Gjoen's Flower Grenade does the same job with a hand grenade wrapped in roses.
Some pieces carry specific political reference points. Die Weiße Rose takes its title from the non-violent resistance group of students who distributed anti-Nazi leaflets in Munich in 1942 and 1943. Other works draw on real battles, religious martyrdom and acts of protest.
Magnus Gjoen exhibitions, collaborations and collections
Gjoen's work is held in the permanent collections of the Haifa Museum of Art in Israel and the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection, one of Europe's most established corporate collections. His work was included in the 2022 Mercedes-Benz Contemporary museum show in Berlin.
He has collaborated with two of Europe's most recognisable institutions in their respective fields. In 2017, the Wallace Collection in London commissioned a series of prints based on its holdings, including the Scarab Beetles editions. He has also worked with Meissen, the German porcelain manufacturer that produced the first European hard-paste porcelain in 1710.
Solo shows have taken place across the UK, Germany, the US, Norway and the UAE, with longstanding representation by Hang-Up Gallery in London since his 2012 debut, Between Heaven and Hell. Recent appearances include Art Cologne with Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Salone del Mobile in Milan, and Mestaria Gallery in Dubai.
Private collectors of his work include Kate Moss, Kylie Jenner and Graham Norton.
Art of Protest Gallery x Magnus Gjoen exclusive editions
Art of Protest has worked with Magnus since the gallery opened on Walmgate, and over that time we've collaborated on editions made specifically for our collectors.
The most significant of these is Only the Dead Have Seen the End of War, a triptych of three skulls set against the Battle of Ramillies, the Duke of Marlborough's 1706 victory during the War of the Spanish Succession. The piece brings together the recurring themes in Gjoen's work, beauty and violence, mortality and history, and connects them to the gallery's name. The main edition has now sold out, with artist proofs the only remaining works available.
Other exclusive and collector-priority pieces appear from time to time. If you would like to be notified about new Gjoen releases through the gallery, contact the team or join our mailing list.
Buying Magnus Gjoen art from Art of Protest Gallery
The Gjoen works available through Art of Protest include signed limited edition giclée prints, hand-finished editions with gold leaf detail, lenticulars and porcelain sculptures. Pieces range from smaller prints through to large statement pieces and limited editions.
If you want help choosing a work, the gallery team can talk you through the available pieces, including over video if you'd prefer. We can also advise on framing, scale and how a particular piece might sit in your space. Contact us directly for advice on any specific work.
