street art in Stockholm - Gatukonst.se
street art in Stockholm - Gatukonst.se
street art in Stockholm - Gatukonst.se
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The little cottage has weathered w<strong>in</strong>d and ra<strong>in</strong> to become someth<strong>in</strong>g of a tourist<br />
attraction. Anyone not bothered with vertigo can have a slightly surrealistic experience<br />
at the site with its tw<strong>in</strong> multi-lane highways below and <strong>Stockholm</strong>’s silhouette as a<br />
background.<br />
I have traced DP, On Top, Akay, Klisterpeter, El Penor, Mogul, Prao, <strong>art</strong>ist duo<br />
GuiltyGuilty, Dolk, Diffus, Andy, Hop Louie, HE!, Vegan Flava, Folke, Ernesto Guerra<br />
– and quite a few more.<br />
It has been fasc<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g and frustrat<strong>in</strong>g. New events occur weekly, often at the<br />
wrong place and wrong time, but after a while you fi gure our where to look and fi nd<br />
more works by your favourites.<br />
Newcomers show up occasionally: recently, Prao’s posters, small pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
and pengu<strong>in</strong>s. At times the works are cute and placid, at times <strong>in</strong>-your-face and<br />
provocative.<br />
As he says on his website, Hop Louie likes putt<strong>in</strong>g stuff on walls. And he does<br />
so frequently. There are few <strong>street</strong> <strong>art</strong>ists I have come across so often. His works<br />
can be blatantly political, fi lled with criticism of capitalism and commercialism, but<br />
also more ambiguous such as the peculiar commemoration of the late Christer<br />
Pettersson [once put on trial for the murder of prime m<strong>in</strong>ister Olof Palme] —<br />
a styli<strong>se</strong>d portrait with the words ”Styrka, Stolthet, Klass” [Strength, Pride, Class].<br />
Andy too is <strong>in</strong>credibly active, spread<strong>in</strong>g his comic book-<strong>in</strong>spired <strong>se</strong>lf-portrait<br />
with impressive effectiveness. Hundreds of versions stare at us from walls, advertis<strong>in</strong>g<br />
posters and electricity connection boxes. And his Styrofoam birds swoop over<br />
advertis<strong>in</strong>g pillars.<br />
You can tell when the HE! gang has been <strong>in</strong> town. The follow<strong>in</strong>g day the city is<br />
fi lled with elephants, <strong>se</strong>als, squid and rats with dialogue bubbles or texts and <strong>in</strong><br />
cloud cities. Among my favourites are the lone bears. The stand quietly, slightly<br />
embarras<strong>se</strong>d, <strong>in</strong> the city’s fl ux and rush, <strong>in</strong> stairways and under bridges, ponder<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
”Är detta jag?” [Is this me?]<br />
29 Mogul makes clever u<strong>se</strong> of spray stencils <strong>in</strong> his work. He fi nds his themes <strong>in</strong>
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