Johan Deckmann (b. 1976, Copenhagen) is a Copenhagen-based artist, a psychotherapist, and a writer. Deckmann creates works that probe life’s complexities through amusing, wittily fabricated book titles and other phrases painted onto fictional self-help books and canvases. The result is a hybrid of painting, poetry, and psychology that uses the power of language in therapy and art to prompt self-reflection; drawing on strengths from both fields, creatively and intellectually, he forges a synergy that drives the work. His psychological background and practice are fundamental and central, providing content and keeping personal responsibility in view. The titles are strikingly relatable across nationality, gender, cultural background, and age, and some pieces temper darker themes with playfulness by adopting instruction-kit language, reflecting his belief that humor is essential to staying not only sane but also happy and that humor is the instrument of the light-hearted. The connection between his work, psychology, and life is rational and deliberate, and the pieces mirror his perception of existence with its beauty, humor, fear, meaning and lack of meaning, while above all maintaining ruthless honesty.
Solo exhibitions include Whisper of Sommer, Copenhagen, Denmark (2025); The Art of Embracing Chaos, Bangkok, Thailand (2023); You May Not Want To Hear This, Tokyo, Japan (2021); Galerie Mighela Shama (solo), Geneva, Switzerland (2021); Following the Waves, Moscow, Russia (2021); Vacation Romance, Moscow, Russia (2021); Reading Between the Lines, Como, Italy (2020); Manuals, New York, USA (2019).
Group exhibitions include Vin Vin Gallery, Vienna, Austria (2024); Contemporary Cluster, Rome, Italy (2024); Bibliomania – Das Buch in der Kunst, Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany (2023); Once Upon a Time in Mayfair, London, United Kingdom (2022); Bibliomania – The Book in Art, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany (2022); Wie man ein gutes Leben führt, obwohl man ein Fußballspieler ist, Sønderborg, Denmark (2022); Skøra, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands (2022); Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2022); Art Fair Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (2022); He aprendido que tienes que rezar por lo que no conoces, Logroño, Spain (2022); RESTORATION: NOW OR NEVER, London, United Kingdom (2021); Urvanity Art Fair, Madrid, Spain (2021); Preface, London, United Kingdom (2020); KhrÅma, Marbella, Spain (2020); Guy Hepner, New York, USA (2020); Art Is Love, San Francisco, USA (2020); Human After All, Madrid, Spain (2020); Rhodes Contemporary Art, London, United Kingdom (2019); London Art Fair, London, United Kingdom (2019); Re-Beginning, California, USA (2019); 1989, Megaplex Worldwide Exhibition, Denmark (2019); Guy Hepner, New York, USA (2019); Vanzak Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil (2019); HERE+NOW, New York, USA (2019); Fantasia, San Francisco, USA (2018); It Takes Time, It’s Risky and It Might Last Forever, Remagen, Germany (2018); Windowlicker, Copenhagen, Denmark (2018); Book Club, New York, USA (2018); What Can I Say?, Massachusetts, USA (2018); The Annual Winter Group Show, Copenhagen, Denmark (2018); First Editions, New York, USA (2017); The Big Annual Group Show, Copenhagen, Denmark (2017); Any Given Book, Rome, Italy (2016); Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition 2016, Copenhagen, Denmark (2016).