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Growing
up in Scandinavia is to grow up with the heritage of the Viking
sagas and all myths and legends that surround the big "barbarians"
from the north. The Vikings were for me
the greatest adventurers and they stood for strength and manhood.
The picture these stories give of the Vikings, which has become
the well-known picture of them is, as I understand
today, a misleading picture.
The
Vikings actually represented a period
in history were a lot of development took place and where many cultural
expressions were manifested and spread among a great number of people.
Today when I think about Vikings I see a completely different picture
in my mind than the one that I had as a young adventure driven boy.
The
Vikings were the best shipbuilders in the world at that time, they
were successful merchantmen and created a social structure that
was democratic and allowed the people to take part of the decision
making in their parish. During the Viking age the cultural expressions
were many and, even though the remains are few, it is evident that
the art the Vikings created was exceptionally vital and intricate.
Since the material they worked with consisted of wood and fabrics
a lot of the art is lost today. What is kept for us to see, except
a few remains of the perishable art, is the wonderful work in metal
and stone.
There was a group of people among the Vikings who didn’t have
much wood and started to create carvings in stone instead of the
dominating woodcarvings. Those were the people on Gotland (a Swedish
island in the Baltic Sea that was a centre for trade during the
Viking age and many years to follow). It is from this people’s
creation in stone that I have found the inspiration to work with
Viking art today. The pictures that they carved in stone are not
as detailed and elaborate as other Viking art is. It is, however,
a more expressive work that shows free creations of art by independent
artists. Those are the reasons why the carvings are so unique and
that this island is the only known place in the world where they
created this kind of stone carvings.
I am mostly a self-taught artist that grew up with a mother that
put watercolour paints on the table from the day I remember my daily
activities and a father who taught me to carve in wood at a very
early age. I loved to paint and to create things in wood or clay
or whatever was around to use. Ever since I was introduced to the
world of art as a young boy I have been keeping that habit and tried
different fields such as photography and music.
Since
1997 I got inspired to paint more again after being captured by
the beauty of the picture stones of Gotland. I wanted to do something
with these stones and soon I found a way to bring the stones back
to life again by making paintings as the ones you see today. Since
then I have worked towards completing a collection of 85 paintings
(The Gotland Collection) that
depict scenes from the best preserved picture stones. I have completed
my collection today, but I continue working on it to improve the
paintings, there are always things that can be improved and explored,
so I see myself working on this collection several years ahead.
I work with the paintings and other products in close relation with
my wife who helps me with many things; she is my friend, my inspiration
and my necessary critical eye. We like to see this art spread around
the world so that as many people as possible can take part of this
wonderful work that was created during the Viking age and is brought
to new life by me and my wife today. I hope that you will enjoy
our work and that you find something on this website that will bring
you a little bit closer to our Viking ancestors. Whether you are
from Viking origin or not I am sure that you can appreciate the
art that was created by the people of Scandinavia more than 800
years ago.
I now let you enjoy the wonderful world of the Vikings!
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