Pictures for sale @ Urban Artroom 1209!

10 of my pictures will for an unspecified period of time be available for sale as signed  large limited edition high quality prints at a local gallery called Urban Artroom 1209. At a low cost as well. http://shop.textalk.se/se/artgrp.php?id=30937&grp=1705683

FRIEND?

I made this picture today, and haven't really had time to think very much about it. It depicts a naked young man with an erection, holding on to a chair as if inviting someone to sit, with a sunset and some hindu / buddhist signs in the background.

Well the process of creating it was really simple. I found this photo of a man with an erection holding on to a chair and thought it was interesting. So I started outlining it and when I was finished I thought: 

What now? Maybe I should put something in the backgound. Maybe I should put a sunset in the background? 

As you can see, I did this. 

Still, the picture seemed to lack something, so I put the sign for "OM" (the hindu-term for the sound that creates the world) over the sun. Then I put the hindu sun-symbol behind the sun. Yet something was still missing. 

So I tried to come up with some more exotic-looking scribble and the mantra "Om ah hum vajra guru padma siddhi hum" came to mind. It means something along the line of "let my body, speech and mind become one with my teacher." 

The questions still remains however: 

What is the meaning of this? 

Why does this young man have an erection? 

Why is he holding on to a chair? 

Why are there religious signs everywhere?

Well, if I have to, I can explain it. I promise. But if someone can like this picture without an explanation I would be much more happy. I mean, explaining a picture should never change how it is perceived or how it is interpreted. So, I'll leave it at that. If you still want an explanation however, leave a comment or e-mail me.

Here's the photo I based the picture on:

AMANITA

Animal Collective put out a new record this week, which inspired me a great deal. One of the new songs were called "Amanita", which is the name of a mushroom (Amanita Muscaria or Amanita Pantherina) that's really common in Sweden. Children are thaught to avoid it at all costs as people think it's poisonous, and deadly at that. This is not true at all, though it is a strong deliriant with some really disturbing effects, causing hallucinations and intense changes in perception. It has been used by shamans as a tool to reach the spirit world in many cultures and has been consumed by human beings for thousands of years.
This is mainly the theme of Animal Collectives song, with a bit of fairy tale influences, but as I read about peoples experiences with the mushroom I thought that the lyrics for the track "Father Time" might actually describe the effects of this mushroom more correctly (so I'll post them below). People who eat this mushroom describe getting caught in a time-loop that's horrifying, feeling like they are trapped in hell. As time passes, though - if they do not panic - they can alter this loop to experience extreme emotional states of religious extacy and comfort. And as the loop reaches its end most people who can remember the experience afterwards (it seems to be dreamlike and fade away quickly) feel like they've discovered the meaning of life, the universe, everything.

"Open up your locket does solidarity breed from a good foundation?
Things speed out of date now you can be falling and when your up it's blown
Up with all new buildings painted they're not your
Colors and all the places you went to you don't get what they offer and hey
That's Nathan but didn't he pass a long time ago?
Where'd he go?

We exorcised the weekend now all the demons can't play but they snuck into
Thursday
Looking out for panthers from the road again but didn't they pass a long
Time ago?
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsty.com/animal-collective-father-time-lyrics.html ]
Luck it's not it's real. No it's not real
Maybe it's only real when lightning landed and hit you right where you were
Standing
Or when your imagination shows you what only time is supposed to tell you
Then I imagine time he's got real big hands and bigger plans
From a long time ago

And did I remember suitcase and all the things in my head and all the
Expectations of doing something special
I could be gone today
But where do they take me?

Luck it's not real though my feelings say it's real
Maybe it's only real when someone blinds you when they had always been so
Kind to you
Imagination won't get moldy can't wait for time to unfold me
Then I imagine time he's got real big hands and bigger plans
From a long time ago"

In Siberia Amanita Muscaria is the incarnation of a god, the god of lightning. In India it's called "Soma", the god drug. Some argue that combining weed with this mushroom is the best way to consume it.

I have not tried this mushroom myself, and would not recommend it to anyone, as the effects seem far from pleasant, but here's some links for those of you interested in learning more about it anyway:
http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=68309
http://www.erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Amanitas.shtml


And here's a link to Animal Collectives new record, which you can listen to for free on their website:
http://radio.myanimalhome.net/

Here's some of the photographs I used to make this picture.
I do not own the copyrights to these pictures. 

AUTO EROTIC

I guess in some way this may be the happiest picture I've done so far. The guy in the picture really does look happy.

I stumbled across the photo I based it on by chance when I was searching for something else (can't remember what) and found it very appealing in a way. It's just so weird trying to figure out what's going on and at the same time as it's pretty obvious. I thought alot about changing the photo in some way to make it my own, but didn't. I just added some bugs and grass.

So what am I trying to express? I'm not really sure. The weirdness of life I guess. Because life is a really strange thing, and the world too for that matter. And if you can find some pleasure in it, I guess that's good enough, no matter how you find it.

Peace.

For Cilla

Here's a picture I made for my friend Cilla Leyni (left). It's based on a photo of me and her.

Happy Eye

Another sloppy picture I made in a short amount of time, but I still like it somehow. I wanted to do something that showed how we humans are connected to eachother, but I guess I messed up. Anyways, it's atleast somewhat detailed, and the colors are kind of nice.

Untitled

I've been thinking about doing a picture like this one for some time now, and when I got started it didn't take me more than a couple of hours to finish. The result isn't exactly what I had in mind, as I wanted the shell to mutate into an old smiling man with a beard and not a screaming woman, but I guess it's close enough.

The inspiration for this picture I got partly from a dream (a really weird one!) and partly from some equally weird new age video that I watched by accident on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oSePXRbW9o). The video itself is kind of wacky until about 3 minutes into it, but I guess it's worth a look ( if you're as spaced out as I am you might even enjoy it!).

So, what am I trying to express with this screaming woman/seashell? Well, I actually wanted to make a picture that would make people smile - I wanted it to express joy and a feeling of unity with nature (or something equally cheesy), and not weirdness and agony as it does now. But sadly I still seem to be quite uncapable of doing any such thing.

As a sidenote I'd like to mention that I've become quite interseted in Throatsining lateley (especially throatsinging from Tuva), which may also have been something of an inspiration for this picture. Here are some of the songs I listened to while making it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLF7Fl4SXh8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNAKH4KdRY0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYqrWRiS204
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAd9UhhS61E
Enjoy!

Animal Collective Again

A new fanpicture I made for the band Animal Collective. I am completely in love with this band and urge everyone who reads this to pick up one of their records (or a few of them).

I also recommend Panda Bear and Avey Tares solo records, as they've inspired me a great deal.

The style of this picture is not really in line with my other work, but I guess it's nice to do something different from time to time. I will not make alot of pictures like this though, as they don't really fit my style.

As for what this picture tries to express, I guess I wanted to  shows us humans as the weird and kinda disgusting, yet beautiful and magnificent, organisms we actually are. To experience yourself outside of yourself makes you really realize something that's utterly profound.

I really hope everyone who wants to get to know themselves will have an experience like this atleast once in their lives. Preferably with the music of Animal Collective playing somewhere in the background.

Holy Molar Failure

A picture I made for some website, but the guy who ordered it wasn't satisfied with the image, so it won't be used. I kinda like it though, and I'm not that dissappointed I couldn't sell it.

EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL (another picture for my mother and her husband)

I've been thinking a lot about life lately.
I've been thinking about us humans, about my friends and my family, about our surroundings, about other animals and about nature.
I've also been thinking of how much I take these things for granted, and this has resulted in some kind of mushy sentiment that I can't seem to shake. And I don't want to shake it either.
I somehow feel like everything is beautiful, and that everything always has been beautiful and always will be beautiful. Even ugly, scary or disgusting things like war, violence, shit, intestines, dogs, hate, love, horses, vaginas and Christmas trees seem beautiful to me these days, and it's confusing me. Even scaring me sometimes.
Everything seems so very complex, yet delicate and simple.
Anyhow, I guess I wanted to make a picture that reflects just a fraction of these thoughts, of this state of mind that I'm currently in. And I also wanted to make a picture for my mother and her husband, because they always tried to tell me that the world was exactly this beautiful place that I've just recently realized it to be. I mean, every time I've been depressed or felt like things were unfair or sometimes outright unbearable, they've always been there for me. And for the first time since I was a child I can really see it again. And that's just amazing.

Here's the pictures I used to make this one. They were found with googles image search engine. I have not made/taken them and do not own the rights to them.

Animal Collective T-shirt

I've personally had some strangely profound moments listening to Animal Collective; they somehow put me in an almost meditative state of mind - and some of these moments may be the most precious I've experienced (and probably ever will experience).
It took me awhile to realize how special this band really was, but it was worth the wait. In a way, and I mean a really positive way, they changed my life.
And that's why I'm not so sure about this picture actually. I kind of hate it, and I kind of like it. I hate it, probably because it can't possibly be as good as what it's supposed to represent, and I like it because it's not really a bad picture at all.
I started on it a while back as a hand made pencil drawing (the first picture below is a colored version of this drawing, and below it is the black and white original), but when the "character" was finished I got scared I might ruin it with a background and decided to do the rest on my computer. I'm not sure if this was a good idea or not, but it's not like I can change it as the original is somewhat damaged now.
Anyhow, when I had finished coloring it I tried to make a cool background, but it didn't work. So I asked my brothers girlfriend what she thought about it and she said it would look really cool as a t-shirt. This got me thinking, and soon afterwards I made the picture that I've posted above. I guess one day I'll make a new picture for animal collective that I'm more happy with, but for now this will do.

Cannabis with Justin Bieber

In English:
Cannabis is probably the most common drug I've tried to get some inspiration from for my psychedelic picture series, but strangely one of the pictures I've had most trouble finishing. Maybe because the drug itself inspires more laughable and less serious associations, and often is depicted as something that only makes you more or less stupid; maybe because the cartoonish pictures of people under the influence of this drug are so many, and that makes it a lot harder to do something original yourself. On the other hand I'm not making these pictures because I want to do something new or try to be original, but because these are pictures I would like to have hanging on my own walls. I hope the humor of this latest project hasn't taken over too much, though. My intentions are not to make over the top cartoonish parodies of drug addicts (such as poor mr Bieber), but it isn't to do difficult and serious art either.

If you blow up this picture to it's original size by right clicking on it and selecting "show in new tab", please note the small faces on the slices of sausage that covers the pizza-sun. Another thing you should notice is the wrong proportions of the right arm - which of course is something I did intentionally.

I am especially happy with the effect of the three mouths, somehow making it hard for your eyes to focus. Beyond that there isn't much I can think of to say about this particular picture. Justin Bieber continues to be a cool dude who likes drugs, and I hope I haven't completely run out of ideas when I'll get on to my next picture, which I think will be an interpretation of what happens when you do psilocybine/psilocine (magic mushrooms).

På Svenska:
Cannabis är nog den vanligaste av de droger jag hämtat inspiration från i min psykedeliska bildserie, men var konstigt nog den svåraste hittills att få klart. Kanske därför att det finns så mycket klichéer kring vad som förväntas av ett THC-rus att det inte riktigt kändes nyskapande att göra den här bilden. Men å andra sidan gör jag inte de här bilderna för att de ska vara nyskapande, utan för att det är bilder jag själv skulle vilja ha hängande i mitt rum. Jag hoppas dock att humorn i mitt senaste projekt inte tagit över för mycket. Min avsikt är verkligen inte att göra pompösa skämtteckningar, samtidigt som det kanske inte heller är att göra överdrivet svår och seriös konst.

Notera gärna alla de små ansiktena som pryder korvskivorna på pizzasolen, och det faktum att högerhanden som håller hamburgaren är helt ur proportion - vilket såklart är medvetet.

Speciellt nöjd blev jag med de tre munnarna som nästan får det att klia i ögonen på en (eller i alla fall på mig). Annars finns det inte så mycket att säga om den här bilden. Justin Bieber fortsätter vara en skön snubbe som knarkar och jag hoppas att jag inte har fått helt slut på idéer när jag ska börja med nästa bild, vilken jag tror kommer bli en psilocybininspirerad sak.

Keyboard Drumset Fucking Werewolf (the game)

In English:
A while back I made some conceptual artwork for the band Fucking Werewolf Asso, and here's a couple more. These new pictures however, are not for a CD or a Show, but for a game that my brother, Jonatan Söderström (better known by his nickname "Cactus"), and the singer of Fucking Werewolf Asso, Dennis Wedin, made together and will be selling after the bands live gigs in the future.

The game is a mish-mash of 2D platforming, first person 3D and much more. Most of the inspiration for these pictures comes directly from the game itself, which will be available on CD-rom in a 7" cover for a couple of bucks.

På Svenska:
För ett tag sedan gjorde jag lite konceptbilder till bandet Fucking Werewolf Asso, och nu har jag gjort ett par till. Dessa är dock inte till någon skiva eller spelning, utan till ett spel som min bror, Jonatan Söderström (kanske mer känd som cactus), och sångaren i bandet, Dennis Wedin, knåpat ihop och ska sälja vid en spelning på pusterviksbaren ikväll.

Spelet är ett hopkok av 2-D plattform, förstaperson 3D, buttonmashing och massa annat. Det mesta av bilderna jag gjort är taget direkt från moment i spelet, som går att köpa upptryckt i 7" format på CD för en billig slant.

ENG: Here you can listen to Fucking Werewolf Asso:
SV: Här kan du lyssna på Fucking Werewolf Asso:
http://www.myspace.com/fuckingwerewolfasso
ENG: And here you can check out my brothers games:
SV: Och här kan du kolla in min brors spel:
http://www.cactusquid.com/

Mescaline with Justin Bieber

In English:
So, this is the second picture in my postercampain for psychadelic drugs! And by now I have decided to feature our beloved Justin Bieber in every one of these pictures, which may prove quite difficult as he seems to be posing the same way on every picture you can find on Google. Anyway, the drug this poster is supposed to symbolize is mescaline, a fenetylamine that naturally occurs in different types of cacti, of which the most famous would probably be peyote. Due to this I chose to replace the top of Justins head with one of these cacti, and as peyote (as well as most other kind of succulents and cacti) grows in the desert, I chose the desert as the pictures setting.

Other things I've read about this drug is that it alters your perception of time - a minute might seem like eternity, an hour may pass in the blink of an eye. This I try to represent by making mr Biebers right eye look old and blind, while the other still looks young, though somewhat fucked up. Other common effects of the drug is nausea, visual hallucinations (living objects, like plants, apparently seem very strange while high on this substance, and to some people extraordinarily beautiful), "magic" patterns, etc, which inspired some of the background, and the smaller Justin, throwing up a flower.


På Svenska:
Så var jag klar med den andra bilden i mitt affischkampanj för psykedeliska droger! Har nu bestämt mig för att ha med vår käre Justin i alla dessa bilder, vilket kanske kommer bli svårt då han poserar ungefär likadant på varenda jävla bild. Hur som helst är drogen som bilden ska representera meskalin, som är en psykoaktiv fenetylamin som naturligt uppstår i olika typer av kaktusar, varav den mest kända borde vara peyote-kaktusen. Denna kaktus valde jag alltså att använda som toppen av Justins huvud, och då den växer i öknen använde jag mig av just öknen som setting.
Andra saker jag läst om drogen är att den gör det svårt för en att uppfatta tid, att en minut kan kännas som en evighet och att en timme kan flyta förbi på ett ögonblick. Detta försökte jag representera genom att låta Biebers ena öga se gammalt och rynkigt ut, medan det andra ser ungt men något vridet ut. en annan av drogens effekter är tydligen också att man ska se skönhet i växter och liknande under ett meskalinrus, samt må illa, så då tyckte jag att det passade bra med en extra Bieber i bakgrunden som kräktes ut en blomma. 
Gamen som cirkulerar i vänstra toppen av bilden lade jag mest till för att fylla ut bilden, men kan väl även symbolisera rädsla, som man säkert kan känna stundvis under inflytandet av en såpass stark drog.

ENG: Here's some of the pictures I used:
SV: Här är ett par av bilderna jag använt mig av:

ENG: The clouds in this picture are taken from:
SV: Molnen i bilden är tagna från:
http://cloudery.wordpress.com/gallery-two-large-works/untitled_lw2_rgb/

LSD with Justin Bieber

In English: 
The last few days I've been surfing the webb, checking out "Entheogenic art" and old pschedelic 60's and 70's posters; this after seeing some really cool vintage posters at a local café / recordstore called Dirty Records. The Posters I found were completely awesome, but unfortunately not for sale, and when I got home and searched for them online I found them extremely expensive. This is why I've been trying to do my own interpretation of psychedlia (which I, after a couple of hours of google-ing, found out a lot of people already had given a try), with the drugs that inspired this form of art as the central theme. The payoff will probably be nothing more than having a couple of really weird and cool pictures hanging on my own wall, but that's more than enough for me!
Now, what I have in mind with this project is making five pictures that goes together (a plan that I probably won't be able to materialize as this picture took way too long to complete), each a kind of poster for a specific psychoactive substance: LSD, Mescaline, Psilocybine/psilocine, THC and Salvia Divinorum.
The picture I just finished here depicts my favourite megastar, Justin Biber, high on Acid (LSD) and uses as many patterns as I could possibly force into it, and ofcourse, the unavoidable peace symbol. Like the rest of my pictures it's quite big, roughly 176cm x 126cm 300 dpi. And though I really wish I were responsible for coming up with the goofy racoon head and the weird fly-glasses, I have to admit that there's another genius out there who's imaginiation is as brilliant as mine as the picture's just a "parody" (in lack of a better word) of the alredy existing photograph of our beloved Justin, which I am posting below for comparison.
Well, when my next picture will be ready I'm not sure - I haven't started on anything new so far - but I will try to force myself to make this project a success, and hope that I within a forseeable future will have five home made psychadelic posters hanging on the walls of my bedroom!

Here's a few links for those of you who would like to see some of the entheogenic/psychadelic art that has inspired me:
http://creationbook.synthasite.com/resources/Entheogenic_Garden_of_Eden_oil_by_brainwar23%20Bryan%20Ward.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-RMBuZ4Pt3pku1bHcwcHDtvlmmIdModC7X7rIvh3HvXVjSJHY-njoXbCsYwE7p_ObWRVhf05O9fjQbGiflak8J8brWW_p75O04IyblwRClYCDPzGkwlItWS7Sz1xqFiWsF76GMLSqx3O-/s1600/alex_grey-net_of_being-2007-001.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3514/3706142110_dee4213aa1_o.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwk110oiaujyjjz_SBTIN2W91Y2hXzy5xqSZsmGNM8nfEKcLB1WgnqcLD0MddWNnFn62sf9sSn17EDsmewgs0Ax_RGHCU4y8CPi3bNXqNZ9gZQXmM3ld7h1uJijU7Xlg_Nmqq0pLJBtcU/s400/alex-grey-albert-hofmann-lsd-psychedelic.jpg
http://transversealchemy-raw.blogspot.com/2011/05/art-of-rock-part-i-1960s-fillmore-and.html?zx=ad23cb05192b347b

http://www.classicposters.com/ 
http://www.bobtheil.com/psychotron/posters.htm and
http://www.wes-wilson.com/?page_id=592


På Svenska:
På senaste har jag surfat runt på nätet lite och kollat på s.k. "Entheogenic art" och gamla psykedeliska 60- och 70-talsposters; detta efter att ha sett ett par vintageaffischer på Dirty Records (som ligger vid Andra Långgatan, strax innan järntorget). Affischerna jag hittade i skivaffären / kaféet var verkligen häftiga, men tyvärr inte till salu, och när jag lyckades finna dem på nätet var de extremt dyra. Därför har jag försökt göra min egen variant av samma sak (som jag under ett par timmars intensivt googlande upptäckte att många andra redan gjort), med drogerna som inspirerat denna konstform som tema, så att jag kan dekorera mitt hem med något som åtminstone påminner om samma sak.
Tanken är alltså att jag ska göra fem bilder som hör ihop (en plan jag antagligen kommer ge upp då den här bilden tog såpass lång tid att färdigställa), var och en som en slags reklamaffisch för en specifik psykedelisk substans: LSD, Meskalin, Psilocybin, THC och Salvorin-A. 

Den bild jag nu blivit klar med föreställer min idol, Justin Bieber, hög på LSD:

























Bilden använder sig av så mycket mönster jag kunde hitta, och såklart den oundvikliga peace-symbolen. Den är som mina övriga bilder faktiskt ganska stor, ungefär 176 x 126 cm i 300 dpi. Och trots att jag verkligen önskar att det var jag som hade lagt till tvättbjörnshuvudet och de knasiga flug-glasögonen, måste jag tyvärr erkänna att det tydligen finns ett annat geni därute som har lika fin fantasi som jag, då bilden även är en pastisch på ett redan existerande foto av vår kära Justin, som jag självklart bifogar här:

Nå, när nästa bild dyker upp vet jag inte - jag har inte påbörjat något nytt än så länge - men jag håller tummarna för att detta lilla projekt skall gå vägen, och att fem egenhändigt utmejslade psykedeliska posters ska hänga på min vägg inom en snar framtid!

För att se en del Entheogenic art som jag funnit intressant kolla exempelvis:
http://creationbook.synthasite.com/resources/Entheogenic_Garden_of_Eden_oil_by_brainwar23%20Bryan%20Ward.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-RMBuZ4Pt3pku1bHcwcHDtvlmmIdModC7X7rIvh3HvXVjSJHY-njoXbCsYwE7p_ObWRVhf05O9fjQbGiflak8J8brWW_p75O04IyblwRClYCDPzGkwlItWS7Sz1xqFiWsF76GMLSqx3O-/s1600/alex_grey-net_of_being-2007-001.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3514/3706142110_dee4213aa1_o.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwk110oiaujyjjz_SBTIN2W91Y2hXzy5xqSZsmGNM8nfEKcLB1WgnqcLD0MddWNnFn62sf9sSn17EDsmewgs0Ax_RGHCU4y8CPi3bNXqNZ9gZQXmM3ld7h1uJijU7Xlg_Nmqq0pLJBtcU/s400/alex-grey-albert-hofmann-lsd-psychedelic.jpg

För att se ett par av de psykedeliska 60- och 70-talsposters jag själv inspirerats av kolla exempelvis: http://transversealchemy-raw.blogspot.com/2011/05/art-of-rock-part-i-1960s-fillmore-and.html?zx=ad23cb05192b347b
http://www.classicposters.com/ 
http://www.bobtheil.com/psychotron/posters.htm och
http://www.wes-wilson.com/?page_id=592