Artis Statement & Artist Bio

Artist Statement

I paint worlds where myth and instinct intertwine shaped by color, Nordic folklore, and inner strength. As a child, I was often afraid, and my work grows from learning to stand strong even when fear remains.

Women and animals appear as both fierce and tender, balancing the romantic with the raw. My art is a quiet rebellion where softness holds power, and emotion is never held back.

Artist Bio

Born in Jönköping, Sweden, Elsa Johanna Rappe — working under the name Fine Art by EJR — revealed an exceptional artistic sensitivity from an early age, deeply immersed in drawing and the imaginative worlds of folklore and fairy tales. This early fascination continues to echo throughout her work. She later relocated to the rural landscapes of Skåne, where she lives and works in close dialogue with nature. Her practice has been shaped through studies with Nobel artist Susanne Jardeback and polar expedition painter Måns Bergendal, and further refined her practice at the Milan Art Institute.

Johanna’s work unfolds at the intersection of myth, instinct, and emotional truth. Rooted in luminous color and Nordic folklore, her paintings draw from a childhood shaped by fear, transforming it into a visual language of resilience and inner strength. Her figures , often women and animals, emerge as archetypal presences: at once fierce and tender, suspended between the romantic and the raw. There is a quiet defiance in her work, where vulnerability is not concealed but elevated, and where emotion is given full, unapologetic form. As the artist herself expresses it: “There is a quiet power in standing strong despite fear,  this is what I seek to reveal.”

She works from an intimate studio nestled in the countryside, her dog Aska often at her side, with the surrounding wilderness serving as both refuge and source. As her practice continues to evolve, Johanna is currently developing a forthcoming art book and preparing for a series of exhibitions that promise to further establish her as a distinctive voice within contemporary figurative painting.