Happy Midsummer!

I wish you all a happy midsummer holiday this weekend, with this classic Carl Larsson painting.

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Alan Potter made this study of football supporters before and after games in a Boteroesque style.

Art News Roundup

Eskilstuna konstmuseum reopened this month and seem to be right on target with the new setup. In today’s edition of Svenska Dagbladet they got a four page feature article about their efforts. Some of the new stuff looks pretty interesting at first glance, but - in my opinion – something like Bo Melin’s pictures of 28 Eskilstuna women found on the internet would have been so much more efficient without the regional connection to the exhibition.

The Paul McCarthy exhibition at Moderna is the talk of the town. But somehow the expected public outcry against sex and violence has failed to gain momentum. It’s as if his art no longer breaks the rules to the extent it used to. McCarthy always used to say "My art isn’t disgusting. Reality is disgusting.", and finally the audience seem to agree with him.

In a bizarre event, artist Robert Jäppinen died from a heart attack during an interview by talk show hosts Filip & Fredrik, making him for famous than he ever was alive.

And brilliant illustrator/artist Jan Stenmark is obviously back in his old shape, after straying off into the land of confusion for a few years. The caption reads "For a long time I thought that the English word for cunt was broom".

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The smile of Zlatan imortalized in tiles on the wall of an underpass in Rosengård, Malmö, by artist Björn Carnemalm.

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Douglas Gordon and Phillipe Parreno show their Zidane film at the Art Basel show, June 14th-18th.

One Track Mind

It's the World Cup, so don't expect any consistency from my posts. If you feel like some quality soccer art, please visit Gavin Penn and have a look at wonderfully realistic supporter portraits.

If you don't enjoy soccer you could always kill some time with this strangly addictive Java application.

Or do as I do: turn on the telly, get some beer and chips and watch Sweden getting our butts kicked by Trinidad and Tobago...

It's art if we say it's art

Sometimes you stumble upon things that makes you wonder what the heck is wrong with some people. Here is a site with "chamberelectronica concertante" performed by Skoda trolly buses.

Don't forget to mention the war

The growing disent with the US war on the world is spawning interesting opposition against the Bush administration within the American art community. Harrel Fletcher’s show The American War features documentation on what westerners commonly refer to as The Vietnam War. Din Q Lee uses a less direct approach with his Father and Son, with shots of Martin and Charlie Sheen interwoven with Vietnam villagers.

But the angriest American artist of them all is probably Clinton Fein who seems to be his own anarchist crusade against everyone who ever voted Republican. Though it’s easy to sympatize with his rage against the state of the world, it soon becomes rather tiresome. That being said I still think that Like Apple Fucking Pie is brilliant.

Searching the web for war related American exhibition it strikes me how deep the national trauma of The Vietnam War is for that country. Even though there is another war going on right now, very real for millions of people in Iraq and Afghanistan, and soon to be also in Iran, most American artists seem preoccupied with a war that ended 30 years ago.

Google Art at it's best

Poetry From Above is a wonderful site I just discovered through Esbatis kommentarer. The texts are in Swedish but it’s not necessary to understand them to get the point.

American Photography IV

I found this wonderful collection of Scott Mutter photo montages at The American Museum of Photography. Looking through them I just realized where digital artist Illka Halso got his inspiration from.

Deconstructing Charlie Finch

Who said post structuralist reading had to be boring?