On 5 June the Göteborg Konsthall opens the doors to Tomorrow Always Belongs to Us, an exhibition with some of the most exciting painting by young artists in the Nordic countries today.

The exhibition presents eleven artists from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland, and comprises a large selection of new work often with strong local affiliation. The focus is on painting, but the artists taking part work within a range of different media.

Part of the group show are the Icelandic artists Sigga Björg Sigurðardóttir and Hlaðgerður Íris Björnsdóttir. Sigga Björg (b. 1977) drawings of fantastic creatures – somewhere between human and animal, simultaneously grotesque and beautiful, but always imbued with a sense of feeling – perhaps point to an underlying mythology in her work, whether particularly Icelandic or universally human. Like characters removed from a storybook, Sigga Björg’s subjects contend with everyday life in a manner that evokes both humor and pathos.

Hlaðgerður Íris’ (b. 1973) subject are children. Children, defiant or dreaming, her own or those from the neighbourhood: She paints young boys and girls who she has been watching closely for some time. Her figures drift in the air, interrupt the narrative, and – while often teetering on this dangerous precipice – encircle the topos of childish innocence.