Tintin and I?

I'm preparing for a lecture on Tintin and issues of racism. I will also talk about how Hergé's work has influenced my art. Tomorrow at Ädelfors folkhögskola in Vetlanda.

Elucidating Inka / Doge

The Wowboy - A fearless combination

Today I'm having my friend Petter crashing here on the blog, posting the first draft for a potential graphic novel project:

A pale, thick haired, scandinavian viking suddenly wakes up in a foreign environment. Even if some things do resemble what his blue eyes are familiar with, many things are different. There's a sun rising in the morning, staying up in the sky all day, eventually descending when evening comes. However this sun seems to stay up longer, and the heavy clouds he's used to seldom appear here, but when they do they tend to leave a ton of winter. Usually it melts into summer the day after. Yes, the sky is mostly blue during daytime, and the stars at night helps him navigate between different beds. He's not perfectly sure where exactly he is, what's behind the enormous mountains in the west and how far away the nearest shore is in this desert-like country.

One thing that amuses him is the great range of different mead he can find here. There are also an infinite variety of breakfast cereals, but unfortunately no filmjölk (cultured milk). He finds the coffee a bit too transparent, but notices that he generally gets more coffee for his coins. So perhaps it evens up. Cups marked "S" seem to be equal to those marked "XXL" back in Scandinavia. However he cannot decide if that's entirely a good thing.

Initially people seem to be staring or at least looking closely at him when he walks down the windy streets. He values shoes that are comfortable for walking and jackets that can take a lot of wind and darkness, and even if the Cowboys also seem to dress to stand the weather, they still appear more stylish. Not the apparent ergonomic scandinavian look.

There are also things he needs to learn about social interaction. He has no trouble understanding "Howdy", but greetings like "What's up?" initially makes him dizzy. He soon realizes that the question doesn't ask for the long version of what he is up to as the cowboys seem to reply with another "What's up?" or "Hey". But he also notices that alarmingly many replies with a "Not much". It's confusing for a viking.

However, he likes what he experiences and what he sees, and most of all he enjoys the company of the cowboys he hangs out with. It's a sweet adventure by the foot of the mountains. Little by little he adjusts to wild west life, his stiff ergonomic viking manners blending together with refreshingly light hearted cowboy ways of living. Donuts suddenly combine with porridge, a shell jacket gets some fur, a cowboy hat grows horns and the coffee turns dark and thick. "Wow, that's awesome", says someone, almost every day. "Wow" replies our Wowboy with a gentle nod.

–

“Hi, can I crash on your blog?”
Blog surfing by Petter Hanberger
This is the story of my Boulder experience, and it’s a tiny experiment in collaborative communication, or guest blogging if you like. I’m hoping to find a new blog to crash each week, and contribute with a post that’s relevant for the specific host. If you know someone who’s blogging on animals or outdoor adventures, please let me know.

Stay tuned.

/PH

Previous episodes:
9/11/2011: INVOLUNTARY OFFLINE MODE,
hosted by Watch, Think, Make/Siri Johansson

@pepperhamburger
www.petterhanberger.se

Starman.

Another photo from the opening. Gunnar took this picture of Oscar balancing on the star.

Thank you all!

A lot of people participated in this project and I would like to thank you all for your involvement.

Jan Tegnemo at Mönsterås Metall who made the aluminium casting possible.

Bengt Selander and the guys at Nybro Rör och Mekaniska who fabricated all the stainless steel hardware.

Gunnar Englund at Fantasilaoratoriet who constructed and sculptetd the wood star.

Tobias at Kalmar Bläster och Lack who painted the green star.

Hans-Göran Martinsson at Kalmar Municipality for great collaboration with all the details.

The guys from Hansa Bygg for the foundations and help on site.

Anders Lönn who gave me some good advice on concrete casting and materials.

Jonas Forsberg who helped with the installation.

And finally Lars Gustavsson, designer, fabricator and inventor, who helped me in so many ways. General support, discussing ideas, helping me with the installation, concrete casting, transports and many other things. Many thanks Lars.

Opening.

Finally, the day for the opening! There was an open house at the daycare center and quite a lot of people showed up. The weather was almost as foggy as last Friday. The grass was in better shape than a week ago and I am pleased with how the whole sculpture look. The kids are still enjoying it, climbing it and playing hide and seek.

Photo: Elin Stenberg

Finish line!

Today was another foggy day and the day of final inspection of the stars. Everything went well and my clients were very satisfied with the piece. The official opening of the daycare center will be next Saturday, more from the opening later.

Last star.

With some help from Barks' movers and Lars I finally got the concrete star in place. After scrubbing and washing away loose pigments on the surface we left it for the kids to jump on. Tomorrow, the final inspection with representatives from the school and Kalmar municipality will take place. Left to do is adding material to the small mound to get the grass surface level with the stars.

Out of the mould.

I managed to lift the concrete star from the mould without any problems. For now it is resting, upside down in the old powerstation in Pukeberg, waiting for some movers to transport it to Rinkabyholm early thursday morning. My deadline is friday 10:00 AM so I can still make it.

Copy II

This is a drawing I have been working on for some time. I have made a homage to Caravaggio, another favourite painter, using the composition and figures from his painting Supper at Emmaus from 1601.

I changed the perspective a bit because the point of view is higher in my drawing than it is in caravaggios painting.

Abraham Bloemaert did the same thing in 1622...

...and Rembrant in 1648.

Maybe Caravaggio had seen the Titzian painting from 1535.