• Hampus Balanzo Wernemyr

    Written by Art & Culture

    Hampus has a very unique perspective on the world. He sees things in his own way, and it shows in how he portrays both people and objects. Someone once said that it was like getting a glimpse into another world, but we rather think it's precisely his perspective on the world.

    What are you working on right now? /Tell us about your exhibition during Stockholm Art Week?
    I’m about to start working on a series of paintings for a group show in Seoul, South Korea, in September. I’m picking up the brushes where I had to lay them down due to the deadline for my current solo show Turpentine Conclusions at ISSUES.

    What inspired you to become an artist, and how has your artistic journey evolved over time?
    My mother is an artist and my father an architect, creative thinking and aesthetic expression was held very high during my upbringing. As long as you said it was art almost everything was allowed. Art was equal to freedom. But I didn’t paint until my mid twenties, instead I played the violin and guitar. When I started painting I immediately knew I had found the thing I could do the rest of my life. My way of painting has changed a lot over the years but it has always been strictly painting for me since I began.

    What is your creative process like, and how do you approach developing new ideas and concepts for your work?
    That’s a mystery to me. Painting is kind of a struggle up until I start painting then I just let go. I get an impulse or idea, something that I’m curious about. I then start building on that idea using logic and some kind of balance. Paintings are like contraposto towers to me. It sounds out there, I know, but visualizing it like that makes it much easier for me to know where I am in the process and to know what needs to be done.
    Over the years I’ve come to realize that all I do is constantly judge every idea or move I make in the studio. It’s basic commands like yes/no, continue/stop, ringt/wrong. The hard part is knowing what command to choose.
    Since my work is completely dependent of the zeitgeist I pick up, I will never run out of ideas or get stuck, because my my view is constantly changing.

    Can you tell me about a specific artwork /series of works that are particularly meaningful to you and why?
    I guess my graduation show Tip-Tap has been the most important show for me. Working towards that show I took the stance I have kept since then. I started doing things my way all the way. Fully accepting my artistic practice and being ready to go down with it if it leads to that.

    What do you think of Stockholm as an art city?
    I don’t think of that. Wow, that’s probably the worst answer in an interview ever.

    Do you have a favorite Swedish Artist?
    Yes many. One artist that has been with me since forever is Evert Lundqvist. We share the love of focusing on a single object in each painting.
    Currently reading Lars Noréns dairies and his way of living through his work resonates deep within me. I too don’t understand how to exist without working.

    Favourite bar/restaurant
    I don’t go out like that very often. I keep in touch with my friends on the phone from the studio. And I meet colleagues and friends at openings. I prefer to dance on my nights out.

  • Éva Mag

    Written by Art & Culture

    Éva Mag is a Transylvanian-born artist who lives in Stockholm. She studied at the Royal Institute of Art and has created art using several different metods such as sculpturing, photography and performance art. The body is a recurring theme in her work, and she explores it as a teller of stories and experiances.

    What are you working on right now? /Tell us about your exhibition during Stockholm Art Week?
    I am preparing a sculpture for the groupshow with Black Iris at Gasverket and also work on a show for Galleri Riis in Oslo in May.  The peace I will show with Black Iris is called The Protagonist.

    What inspired you to become an artist, and how has your artistic journey evolved over time?
    My first art education was photography where I learnt about art and art schools. It has been a journey navigating through the different ways of making art and how to understand the world through creating.

    What is your creative process like, and how do you approach developing new ideas and concepts for your work?
    This would require several pages to write or talk about, but it is depending a lot on where I am in different techniques and who I am collaborating with. But the core is that it still makes me happy to endure the hard process while producing and see it all come in place at the show.

    Can you tell me about a specific artwork or series of works that are particularly meaningful to you and why?
    When I started to work with large amount of clay that was an important step for me. I realized the importance of the resistance in the material. It had its own narrative and keeps telling me stories.

    What do you think of Stockholm as an art city?
    A lot happens, you just need to make time to see things.

    Do you have a favorite bar or restaurant in Stockholm?
    There are really great schnitzels and a good bar at Söders hjärta.

  • Harry Anderson

    Written by Art & Culture

    Harry Anderson is a Stockholm-born artist and comic illustrator. During the early years of his career, he focused on creating paintings, drawings, and comics inspired by his own life experiences as well as urban culture and the feeling of a lack of love in his life. His works often feature confident women, flowers, death, cats, liquor bottles, broken hearts, and butterflies mixed with dark and humorous text. Anderson's technique was inspired by comic artists such as Niklas Jönsson, Bil Eriksson, and Ester Eriksson. He has been published in Svenska Dagbladet and Hjälp magazine, and co-created the comic series Söndagsbarn with his sister, Rut Andersson, depicting his own childhood. He has also written a self-biographical novel, Livet är inte alltid Hawaii, in which he talks about friendship and alcohol addiction. In recent years, Anderson has turned to sculpting in ceramics, experimenting with materials and forms to create works that balance between function and art.

    What are you working on right now? /Tell us about your exhibition during Stockholm Art Week?

    I’m glazing the last five sculptures that are going to be part of my exhibition titled “Köttet är svagt / The flesh is weak”, at Saskia Neuman Gallery, opening the 4th of May. The exhibition is about balance. Balance in my relationships, my work, and my social life. And, that it’s ok to falter.  It’s also about acceptance.

    What inspired you to become an artist, and how has your artistic journey evolved over time?

    Being free and creative is my biggest inspiration for becoming an artist.  My artistic journey started with drawing, right now it resides in sculpture. But it’s ever moving and therefore always evolving. My whole “plan” with being an artist is that I should always be moving. I feel I have stories to tell. Painting, embroidery, and sculpture are some of the mediums I work with. I would love to work with silicon and tin in the future.

    What is your creative process like, and how do you approach developing new ideas and concepts for your work?

    I keep a tight routine and schedule. I’m in the studio 9 hours a day, and constantly working.  If I have a creative stand still, I just make something. I prefer to keep busy, and I trust that the process of working gives birth to something down the line. I usually work with things that I’ve gone through. Things in life, relationships, good times, bad times… all of that. Then I disguise those feelings, emotions or happenings in a material of my choosing (at the moment it’s clay) and connect or “apply” the sculptures to a greater happening like the Rapture for instance.

    Can you tell me about a specific artwork or series of works that are particularly meaningful to you and why?

    Albin Welles performance “Zygorax Lord of Spells” moved me to tears.  In this work, Albin Werle created and embodied a wizard named Zygorax who lived alone, heartbroken and isolated in a tower. In this tower he wrote songs and one day he climbed down the stairs and sang his songs of heartbreak to us. The room was dark and Zygorax dressed in a robe, a pointy hat and sad face makeup sat behind a synthesizer. The style of the music was in the same style as the great Daniel Johnston. The inspiration for Werles work came from a real-life heartbreak and whilst he was performing the person who caused the hurt was sitting in the audience.  That was powerful. This work was meaningful to me because the honesty and the passion behind it. Two things I strive to achieve in my own work.

    Do you have a favorite Swedish Artist?
    Yes, I have many, here are a few:

    Dick Bengtsson, Nadine Byrne, Emma Carlén, Gustav Gaston, Lisa Lundgren, August Nilsson, Sara Sjölin, Albin Werle.

    Do you have a favorite bar or restaurant in Stockholm
    I’ve been hanging out at Den Gyllene Freden a lot. A great bar with fun people.

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