9789185689439

Swedish Illustration 3

Swedish Illustration 3 Copyright © 2012 Arvinius Förlag AB Idea: Arvinius Förlag AB Texts on the Swedish Illustration Award: Jelena Zetterström Editor: Stina Sjöwall Translation: Angela Barnett-Lindberg Cover design: Gabor Palotai Design Layout: Sanna Sporrong Form Published in 2012 by Arvinius Förlag AB Box 6040, SE - 102 31 Stockholm, Sweden Tel +46 (0)8 32 00 15 / Fax +46 (0)8 32 00 95 E-mail: info@arvinius.se www.arvinius.se Printed and bound in Livonia Print SIA, 2012, Latvia Text copyright © 2012 Arvinius Förlag AB Images copyright © 2012 Arvinius Förlag AB and published artists Image on page 11 copyright Jockum Nordström/Rabén & Sjögren ISBN 978-91-85689-43-9 All rights reserved. No part of this production may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording och otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Arvinius Förlag

Contents

Introduction 9 The Swedish Illustration Award 15 Klas Fahlén – Winner 16 Eva Lindström – The Jury’s Special Award 20 Beata Bucht – The Jury’s Special Award 24 Stina Wirsén – Nominated 28 Ida Björs – Nominated 32 Nina Hemmingsson – Nominated 36 Tyra von Zweigbergk – Nominated 40 Swedish illustrators 45 Ahlbom, Jens 46 Andersson, Christina 48 Anderstedt, Emma 50 Antonsson, Tove Siri 52 Atak, Leyla 54 Bard, Magnus 56 Björnström, Anna 60 Björs, Ida 62 Blaesild, Uno 66 Branting, Stina 68 Corswant von, Hans 70 Davidsson Neppelberg, Helena 74 Edgren Nyborg, Kristina 76 Edlund, Jan 78 Edselius, Lena 80 Eltell, Camilla 82 England, Catharina 84 Ericson, Birgitta 86 Ericsson Petrini, Annsofi 88 Eriksson, Jerker 90 Falk, Kid 94 Fernvik, Jenny 98

Forsgren, Per-Åke 100 Ginsburg, Gunnel 102 Gordon, Mattias 104 Grön, Malin 106 Gustafson, Owe 108 Göransson, Peter 110 Hansson, Riber 112 Harvard, Anna 120 Hedlund, Cecilia 122 Holst, Dick 124 Hötzl, Helena 126 Imre-Andresson, Maria Nil 128 Ingemarsson, Roland 130 Jacobson, Erica 132 Jansson, Alexander 134 Jansson, Pål 136 Jarlsdotter, Lotta 140 Jondell, Ingela 142 Jägergård, Åsa 144 Jönsson, Tomas 148 Karlén, Per José 150 Karlsson, Kenneth 152 Kleinschmidt, Lisa 156 Korotynska, Magda 158 Kosa, Ladislav 160 Kåberg, C 162 Källström, Maria 164 Larsson, Knut 166 Liljeblad, Leif 168 Lindholm, Anders 170 Lindholm, Helena 172 Lindström, Therese 174 Ling, Lisa 176 Lundin, Mårten 178

Lunding Hultqvist, Helena 180 Lundwall, Bo 186 Länk, Carina 190 Löfström, Emma 192 Magnusson, Jens 194 Mechan, Maurice 198 Mets, Kati 200 Metsävainio, Marika 202 Minnhagen, Mats 204 Modén, Maja 206 Mrs Murphy/Ehlin, Malin 208 Nicholson, Philip 210 Nielsen, Annika 212 Niemi, Pia 214 Nilsson, Björn 216 Nilsson, Margareta 218 Nylander, Staffan 220 Olsson, Thomas 222 Persson, Maj 224 Pettersson, Linus 226 Pettersson, Therese 228 Påhlsson, Johnny 230 Reich, Johan 232 Rithuset 234 Bennwik, Andreas/Rithuset 236 Cantù Giorgio/Rithuset 237 Ericstam, Hampus/Rithuset 238 Eriksson, Mikael/Rithuset 239 Flygare, Ingrid/Rithuset 240 Lindell, Tomas/Rithuset 241 Romano Patrick/Rithuset 242 Stockholm animation/Rithuset 243 Hörberg, Johan/Rithuset 245 Roberts, Caroline 246 Rosén Zobec, Li 248 Röhl, Annika 250 Schelin, Vanja 252 Segelson, Svante 254 Sköld, Anna 258 Ström, Kjell 260 Suneson, Anders 262 Svedberg, Angela 266 Syster Diesel/Annika Bryngelson 268 Södergren, Karin 274 Teknikillustratörerna 276

Thorsson, Kjell 280 Uddholm, Stefan 286 Cecilia Undemark Péterfy 288 Vallmark, Robert 290 VOL Agency 292 Klas Ernflo 293 Kari Modén 294 Ulrika Hellberg 295 Mats Johansson 296 Lina Lovisa Fernqvist 298 Gunilla Hagström 299 Emma Hanquist 300 Veronica Ballart Lilja 301 Wadman, Eva-Marie 302 Walderhaug, Aurora Turid 304 Wallenberg, Veronica 306 Waxberg, Cecilia 308 Wrangsjö, Sofia 310 Specialties 315

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Introduction

A wave of exciting visual art is sweeping over us. Creative forces and inventiveness are leaving their mark everywhere. Regardless of its form, visual communication has burst out of its former limitations and is looking in new directions. Today, images are everywhere, sometimes where we least expect them and in forms we perhaps did not imagine possible only ten years ago.

There is a new frankness, an acceptance for crossing boundaries in terms of technique, presentation, topics and expression. It is now possible to combine high and low and to introduce referen­ ces to popular culture into highbrow culture (thanks to pop art and postmodernism!). Old techniques have been reintroduced and have acquired new relevance. Drawings and collages are taking pre­ cedence over video installations. Swedish artists who have given drawing a new status include Helene Billgren, Patrik Larsson, Ann Böttcher and Jockum Nordström.

My own introduction to Jockum Nordström’s imagery was not via his artwork, but via his wonder­ ful books about Sailor and his dog Pekka. My eldest son once picked up Sailor blir sjuk (Sailor becomes ill) from the library and told me he read it at his day-care centre. He enjoyed it. His two years younger brother also learnt to love Sailor and Pekka, and we soon had all the books at home. Now, several years later, when I ask them what was so good about them they answer, ‘They were different. The atmosphere was great, cosy, and everyone seemed to have a good time.

They always ended with them eating with Mrs Jackson or dancing.’ Naturally, we later went to see

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Jockum Nordström’s paintings at the Museum of Modern Art, but to the boys nothing could match the picture books. Still, you had the feeling that everything was possible, anything could happen and you could do anything you liked. There was a great attention to detail in his pictures, a rhythm, variations, nuances and an ability to capture the atmosphere and tell little stories that were sad, serious and funny.

Jockum Nordström had been working for a long time as an illustrator when he made a name for himself as an artist, and his drawing skills inform his art. His work could also be described as a kind of fairytale. Technique has become subordinate to expression, something which is not obvious when you are working with illustrations. On the contrary, illustration is sometimes considered more as a craft, and at times it has been associated with technique, just like photography once was, and possibly graphic art too.

‘To many people art is still a matter of “being able”. An illustrator must of course be capable of showing certain things, but communication is not about perfection or beauty,’ says Andreas Berg, an illustrator and professor of illustration at Konst­fack, the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design.

He is currently working on an anthology about Swedish illustration from the 20th century onwards together with illustrator and project coordinator at Iaspis Sara Teleman. It is an important book.

Surprisingly, the art of illustration has no history and it lacks both tools for analysis and a theo­ retical base. The anthology is an ambitious attempt at filling the void.

Let us return to the craft, which is not to say that technical brilliance is all there is to illustration.

Plenty of illustrations share the same content as visual art; it comments, it is ideas-based and there is freedom of expression. However, when I speak to Sara Teleman I get the feeling that practitioners like to consider illustration as something of a free zone alongside art, even though many, Nina Hemmingson for example, keep crossing the boundaries of the genre.

Hemmingson is a trained artist who moved into comic strips. She found her own personal way of combining text with images. Today, she is as much an artist as an illustrator and cartoonist, which is determined by the context and form of pres­en­ tation. With her roots in the arts community and her fine arts studies she is able to choose, to some degree, which is less easy for those who have studied graphic design and illustration.

Even so, several illustrators – Ida Björs, Tyra von Zweigbergk and Emma Hanquist, for example – have exhibited in galleries and may have expe­ rienced the different requirements and changing expectations of the art world.

In the 1960s there was an openness not just within pop art, but also within the political left.

Lena Svedberg’s, Marie-Louise Ekman’s, Ulf Rahm­ berg’s and Lars Hillersberg’s pictures in Puss magazine were art as much as they were illustrations of politics with emotional leanings to the left.

Moreover, mass communication was suddenly no longer to be despised, on the contrary. Images could be disseminated to each and everyone regardless of whether they appeared in magazines or on posters or whether the public wanted them or not; rather like during the Russian Revolution when radical art and the general public did not always go hand in hand.

Historically, many artists have moved between visual arts and illustration. Bruno Liljefors and Nils Kreuger made school posters at the beginning of the 20th century. Many of the women artists at the time worked with illustration since they were not admitted to the higher echelons of art. Jenny Nyström, today characterised as an ‘illustrator’,

was considered a painter when she started out and equal to her male colleagues at the Academy of Arts. Carl Larsson worked as an illustrator through­out his life, and during one period as a travelling reporter for Ny Illustrerad Tidning. He illustrated book sets such as August Strindberg’s Svenska folket i helg och söcken (a history of the people of Sweden). In an article Strindberg described Larsson as an ‘artist for the people, not one of the wealthy merchants’ parlour painters,’ and added that he had abandoned painting for illustration. Even his pictures of his own home, Sundborn, are illustrations to some degree. Illustration offered an important supplementary income for painters around the last turn of the century.

Artists who turned to continental modernism – Gösta Adrian-Nilsson (GAN), Otto G Carlsund and the surrealists – also accepted illustrating com­ missions, and Andreas Berg says that Peter Weiss did illustrations for A Thousand and One Nights, but that the pictures were often shown separately from the text. So what happened? When did the break between art and illustration occur?

After the war, according to Andreas Berg. ‘In the 1940s came modernism, and non-figurative art and images were separated from text. Swedish modernism was obsessed with sorting and separating things. Illustration had not yet recovered from the division that took place. Today, some illustrators work both commercially and as inde­ pendent artists. But there’s a need for more gallery owners who, like Magnus Karlsson, dare to work with both media. As long as the main task of illustration is to illuminate and convey a message to many, it can be difficult to create something totally new.’

When I ask Andreas Berg to define illustration he mentions the concept of visual communication, that is to say that all forms of interpretation can be considered as illustration. The word comes from the Latin illustro, which means ‘to illuminate’, ‘irradiate’. Illustration is often associated with mass communication too. Traditionally, this is taken to mean printed matter (books, newspapers, magazines, catalogues, manuals, posters, etc.) However,

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From the book ”Sailor och Pekka gör ärenden på stan” (Sailor and Pekka Busy in Town), Jockum Nordström, Rabén & Sjögren, 1993

if there is anything that can be said to characterise illustration today, it is finding new paths. It is not unusual for illustrators to work with textiles, designer fashion, collections, prints, cushions and textiles or approach set design, design wallpapers, porcelain or dolls in addition to newspapers, books, advertising etc. They quite simply make a move from two-dimensional to three-dimensional expression. One forerunner is Lotta Kühlhorn, who is presenting her vision on everyday objects such as trays, placemats and cups.

‘Moreover, many illustrators nowadays are trained differently. They have learnt to run their own projects and to act independently. Examples include Banker Wessel, who designs children’s clothes or Mats Johansson and Sofia Ekvall who are responsible for Acne Jr. The younger gene­ ration now arrange lectures and film shows.

Matilda Plöjel, Konst & Teknik and Mattias Palm have started a publishing house, and Alexandra Falagara recently introduced her fanzine Surviving Poetry No. 1 at the travelling book fair “Book on the Fritz #2. ‘The fanzine is making its way back,’ she says.

If we are to discuss trends in illustration today, personally initiated work stands out, and the fact that most practitioners have an ideological agenda, be it feminist, queer, or something else. Sara Teleman nonetheless sees a difference compared with the 1960s and 1970s, which were characterised by collectivism.

‘Nowadays, we’re not drawn into contexts like Puss. They no longer exist to the same extent.

Instead, people act as individual agents and individualists with a common set of values.’

Unlike the 1970s, it is no longer unacceptable to work commercially, but the opposite. Many people, like Beata Boucht, feel that commercial channels offer opportunities for change and for expressing your message, and there is an awareness of having to make money. Illustration is not a middleclass revolt for those who already have a secure income. It is also more common that artists, apart from working with commissions, personally formulate tasks and set them within their own

framework. Another step towards professionalism is the appearance of agents. When Nina Beckmann was involved in starting Agent Form in 1997, it was something new. Now there are many agencies, and it is not unusual to have an agent both in Swe­ den and abroad. It makes it easier to get work as well as to get paid. This is important, especially since pro bono enquiries are increasing in number and many commercial assignments are becoming less well paid.

Is there anything that is typically Swedish? If I understand Nina Beckmann, Sara Teleman and Andreas Berg correctly, foreign observers note naturalism, nature poetry and a kind of involvement with the craft itself, with hand’s work with the pen.

‘Illustration is closely associated with language.

Spoken language, written language and pictorial language developed simultaneously and symbio­ tically. It’s inevitable for something Swedish to be inherent in someone who speaks and thinks in Swedish. Even if we do bring in external influences, we treat them in a Swedish way,’ says Berg.

I personally react to the fact that Swedish illustration is generally black and white, and more about lines than about colour. Surprisingly few artists work with collage or abstract form, and great emphasis is still placed on the meeting be­ tween pen and paper as well as the energy of the line. Technical development has also left its mark, not only in terms of dissemination and production (each artist is his or her own publisher and producer), but also when it comes to the creation of images. You scan and compose your artwork on a computer and use Google instead of collecting references in scrap books. ‘And,’ says Andreas Berg, ‘it isn’t even necessary to learn the basics of perspective and chromatics since most things can be adjusted using a computer.’

There is a risk of standardisation in this respect, but the world of Swedish illustration is in fact extre­ mely varied, fertile and energetic, as can be seen from this book, which presents a large selection of Swedish illustrators. Published here are also interviews with the five illustrators that were nominated for the Swedish Illustration Award in 2011,

a co-operation between Arvinius Förlag and the Illustrators’ Centre: Klas Fahlén (winner), Tyra von Zweigberk, Ida Björs, Stina Wirsén and Nina Hemmingsson. You will also find texts on Eva Lindström and Beata Boucht who were awarded special prizes by the jury.

The winner of the fifth Swedish Illustration Award has now been named and one of the previous winners was, you guessed it, Jockum Nordström!

Jelena Zetterström

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Klas Fahlén Winner of the Swedish Illustration Award

Klas Fahlén’s pictures always tell a story where nothing is generic, but specific. The characters all have personalities that perfectly express a story.

By using only a few simple lines, Klas Fahlén visualizes concepts that, expressed in words, would cover several pages. The Jury is impressed by the fact that Fahlén invariably succeeds in producing vibrant images in a commercial world where clients come up with countless demands.

(From the Jury’s statement) Klas Fahlén is undoubtedly one of those illustrators whose work we see most often. We encounter his ingenious colour-disciplined line work more or less daily on our trips to the supermarket, for example on ICA or Saltå Kvarn products. Most weekends a great many Swedes bring back an image by Klas Fahlén, possibly unwittingly, on a Systembolaget (state-owned liquour stores) carrier bag. Over the past few years he has also designed their catalo­ gues – always with a food and drinks theme, most recently featuring pigs, and with a pig’s snout as a linking theme.

“When the client knows what he or she wants, like in this case, there isn’t much scope for imagination. But not too long ago I received a com­ mission from an interior design magazine to do something on the tutti frutti theme. The only proviso was that is mustn’t depict food,” he says.

“Whatever the theme, the process begins. You brainstorm, look for images within yourself and elsewhere. You sketch. I used to feel a lot of pressure during certain commissions, but these days I trust my own ability. I know I can usually handle it.”

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After the Swedish Illustration Award jury had completed their work, Klas Fahlén was the winner, and their motivation stated that, ‘Klas Fahlén’s pictures always tell a story where nothing is gene­ric, but specific. The characters all have persona­lities that perfectly express a story. By using only a few simple lines, Klas Fahlén visualizes concepts that, expressed in words, would cover several pages.’

The Jury was also impressed by the way in which Klas Fahlén never fails to produce vibrant work that inspires us all.

In an earlier interview, after he won the Kolla! competition for graphic designers, illustrators and animators, which the Association of Swedish Illustrators and Graphic Designers initiated in 2003, he explained that he is not keen on taking part in this sort of event if it is up to him to submit his own contribution.

‘There’s a good deal of work in organizing the material and often you have already completed the project and moved on to something new.’ He again won the 2011 Kolla! Commissioned Illust­ ration category, together with Helena Bielke and Jonas Yrlid of the King advertising bureau, with his packaging for ICA Gott liv.

To some degree, Klas Fahlén is a classic advertising illustrator – although he devotes half his time to doing other things, like doing commissions for magazines and newspapers.

He has worked as an illustrator since he gra­ duated from Beckman’s College of Design in the 1980s. If clients formerly asked him to draw ‘like Picasso’ or ‘like Matisse’ they now allow him his own expression, because it is just his style

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they are interested in; a style characterised by energetic, slightly nervy, thin lines against a white background and just the right amount of matt, retro colours with a deft and humorous, almost punny, narrative zest.

‘I actually don’t like colour and I would much rather work in black, white and red, or maybe orange. I try not to use only soft, saturated nuan­ ces and often test strong colours on my com­­puter, but I always return to this.’

He is partial to 1950s illustrations and the aesthetics that were partly due to the fact that printing in colour was expensive. On his bookshelf are the books about Krakel Spektakel, illustrated

by Stig Lindberg, plus an enormous number of sketch blocks.

Nowadays, Klas Fahlén works both by hand and on the computer.

‘It took me quite a while before I began to draw using a computer, but once I learnt to use the tools, something happened. I still draw by hand – however hard I try it’s not possible to imitate the meeting of pen and paper – but then I put the pie­ ces together in my computer, like a jigsaw puzzle.’

1. ”Fridlyst”, Skärgårdsstiftelsen, 2008 2. ”Vasaparken”, Wall painting for Sven Harrys restaurant, 2011 3. ”Bryggdans”, Strömma Kanalbolaget, 2011

He shows me sheets of sketches. Some are spon­taneous, quick sketches testing a movement pattern, body posture etc., others are charts of noses, eyes, legs and arms that are entered into the computer and then assembled.

‘I have always liked artists’ sketch blocks. Ini­ tially, I work a lot like this too, testing every little movement. Sketching is fun, that’s when you work out how different characters relate to each other.’

In his illustrations Klas Fahlén turns clichés and expectations around, or captures something contradictory that provides an extra twist, like the man who is buying a tiny bottle of wine being very tall.

It is not obvious that the greatest freedom gives the best results, although he says it is better if a good deal of his commissioned work and briefs take place by mail and not in person.

‘I don’t understand why more people don’t think like this. Once you have met the client, there is al­ ways a risk that you become influenced and, in the worst case, they censure your best ideas.’

Jelena Zetterström

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Swedish Illustrators

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Owe Gustafson

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Owe Gustafson, Lill-Jans Plan 2, SE-114 25 Stockholm, Sweden +46(0)8 640 03 23, +46(0)70 830 37 88 owe.gustafson@comhem.se, www.owegustafson.se Speciality Book covers, book illustrations, magazine illustrations 1. Drawing I. Unpublished, 2007 2. Drawing II. Unpublished, 2011

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Erica Jacobson

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1 Erica Jacobson Design, Kocksgatan 24, SE-116 24 Stockholm, Sweden +46 (0)70 771 22 92, erica@ericajacobson.com, ­ www.ericajacobson.com Speciality Posters, book illustration, advertising Clients UR Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company, Stockholms Stadsteater, Lärarförbundet, Anna Lindhs Minnesfond, Eniro 1. Perception of images. Alfa Magazine, 2011 2. GreenRoom. Magazine for Park&Resorts, 2011 3. Paradiset. Fabric. Own project, 2011 4. Supremes. Paper collage. Berns, 2009

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Kati Mets

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MetsJakobsson HB, Tegelviksgatan 44, SE-116 41 Stockholm, Sweden +46 (0)70 869 81 24, illustration@katimets.se, www.katimets.se Speciality Conceptual drawing, illustrations for textbooks and educational material, magazine illustration Clients Liber, Bonnier Utbildning, SKTF-tidningen, M Psykologi, Natur & Kultur 1. A boring morning meeting. Magazine illustration. SKTF-tidningen 2010 2. Feelings are chemical processes. Psychology course literature. Liber, 2011 3. Stop being so negative. Magazine illustration, 2010 4. Group psychology and patterns in human behaviour. Psychology book. Liber, 2011

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Marika Metsävainio

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1 Marika Met Illustration, Bolindervägen 45, SE-176 74 Järfälla, Sweden +46 (0)735 87 93 22, marika@marika-met-illustration.com, www.marika-met-illustration.com Speciality Magazine illustration, book covers, book illustration Clients Svensk Bokhandel, Karolinska Institutet, Natur & Kultur, Magazine Socionomen, SKTF 1. Vårens Böcker 2011, Vuxen. Svensk Bokhandel, 2011 2. Vårens Böcker 2011, Barn & Ung. Svensk Bokhandel, 2011

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