filling up the space

There is something relaxing, but at the same time unusually scary, about a space that has been filled up completely - claimed in the least disputable way - what are you going to do about it?
Trying to interfere with this colossal mass would be a bit like when children argue: "Yes!" "No!" "Yes!" "No!" "Yes-a-thousand-times-more-than-you-can-ever-say!" "......"

advertisement board, Commercial Street, London

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/anish-kapoor/

http://www.artangel.org.uk/projects/2008/seizure

explosively claiming the space

The 'Secret Weapons' displayed here are pieces of work I made last spring. They are made of aluminium and steel, with multiple wearing options, as a tie pin/byro sticking out of your pocket/piece of 'equipment' attached to your belt - or in released position as a necklace/belt/quiver etc. etc.

But the most important quality is the shooting mechanism itself. Not only is this an object that is filling a bit of space, but within it is inherited the power to explosively expand, the power to create an re-current surprising and transformative effect is handed over to you the moment you touch it.

how I'm filling space

how to fill space

New York is hot in the summer. Luckily, every building, as well as the subway, provides ruthless air conditioning. The contrast is huge. You learn to live with it, but it does strike you every time, leaving no room for subconscious adaptation. Contrasts inspire me. It is the notion of things not being able to exist without its counterpart that makes it interesting. If there was no heat, there would be nothing to call cold. If there was no gray, you wouldn't see the colours. And what would space be if there was nothing being created to fill it? A big non-existence.

back to reality

I am back from a dreamy few months of summer. Time to come back to the real world. That is, time to acknowledge everything absorbed and make use of it. Hold on to the beauty and make it appear everywhere, anytime - although it might not be as evident in the autumn twilight compared to summer's cascades of astounding colours.

wear cable!

colours

souvenirs

What if you could remove a part of your surroundings and take with you? Tear off a strip, or cut out a square.
What would be left? A nothing? A wound? Another, hidden world?
Would it be raw, wet, black soil, the urban, colourful moss slowly growing back to re-disguise it?

city songs

There are quite a few songs about cities and they're always very emotionally charged. They are usually either completely glorifying, or they're filled to the rim with bitter-sweetness, devastation and disappointment.

Think about it...!

The best ones are always the ones written about home. No matter if they praise or derogate.
Some songs that I like on cities:

London Elektricity - Syncopated City
Michael Jackson - Human Nature
Fibes, oh fibes! - The City's Got No Boulevards
Orup - Stockholm

Let me know of your favourites.

cables & cords

a piece of mgmt

I quite like this bit of 'pieces of what':

the moonlight on my floor is shining through the roof
they've got the city surrounded as if I needed proof
I forget my fear, I feel it's on the rise
buried by all of the pieces falling from the sky
but pieces of what, pieces of what?
pieces of what we used to call home


www.myspace.com/mgmt

my three favourite london pics

crackling oil

Gerhard Richter with his abstract paintings...especially the 90's ones are astounding. The colours... the feeling like you're looking at something which your mind prohibits you from seeing, like rain pouring down a window, blurring the view

A sense of a different perception suddenly strikes you, a notion that your bubble is cracking!!!

There is something there, something you've never thought of before, and you want to poke it, scratch off the safety layer

But somehow it never gets clear or complete, not even as you start to think backwards, leaning back into your mind and try to make the waves of colour take you with them.

http://www.gerhard-richter.com/art/paintings/abstracts/detail.php?8141

http://www.gerhard-richter.com/art/paintings/abstracts/detail.php?10581

street art or signposts

Nuria Mora, a Spanish street artist that I very much admire. http://www.nuriamora.com/

I wonder what her purpose is with those shapes. I thought for a while that they were keyholes, giving access to a pathway leading towards a town or house, or a big labyrinth.

Then I thought, maybe she is just trying to frame, or own, the messy background to obtain some order and peace of mind.

quick study: new york

quick study: gothenburg

quick study: munich

london, göteborg and other places

The project I'm working on currently is about my love for the city. I call it...uhm... no, I don't have a name for it yet, don't wanna push it. But it's on city aesthetics, or 'urban' if you wish. It's about visiting a place and then having to leave - that sentimental moment when all you want is to take a piece of this place with you.

I come from Gothenburg, Sweden (no, not Gotham City, but thank you all you thousands of guys who thought that was a funny way to break the ice), in size second only to Stockholm, so the city is where I grew up. Since moving abroad for the first time in 2006 I have been absorbed by the idea of 'home' vs 'away'. I had no idea I could feel patriotism until I left my motherland. And still I had chosen to leave it, having criticized it on many points for many years with no remorse.

I love the thought of a city or a place having its own identity. A city isn't a collection of buildings. It is a soul, an aura, an atmosphere. It puts its mark on us, and we mark it with our presence. A city identity is created very little by its architecture and so much by its people - the authorities running it in good or less good ways, the ways that people treat each other, talk to each other, or don't talk to each other, how problems are solved, how people find hope after finding themselves hopeless.

And so many people in Europe go traveling to find their true selves, or to find a place that they think can complete their image of themselves - they go shopping for identity, large-scale. I'm no exception, I would do it more if I could! That search is a luxury and a curse of our European generation. What you want to find is not a geographical matter, but of course a spiritual one. The search can make your life a blurry and vague no man's land. But having realized your role in cosmos, like a piece of lego in the gigantic imaginary design that is your view on the world, the journey gets magical and you feel part of everything you see, while possessing the opportunity to place yourself where your influence is of the greatest use.

my love for the city

Hello. My name is Elsa. This is the blog where I am going to put up work I do as a jewellery design student. It might turn into a website later on, but I must say I like the fact that the blog allows me to write a diary - a good substitute to my oldschool paper one. I shall make this a diary about my artistic work, and all the things, loves, events & fascinations that I base it on.

Welcome - to myself and everyone else!