Karin Cyren och jag tar vägarna till Paris för ett par dagar för vår samlings utställning på svenska institutet som är arrangerat av den italienska organisationen Hamelin. Ta vägarna förbi. Precis som i Bolonga blev utställningen är fantastiskt fin och kommer finnas fram till Oktober nästa år.

Utställning av nutida svenska barnboksillustratörer inom ramen för Designer’s Days.

Eva Lindström tillhör en stark generation svenska barnboksförfattare och illustratörer som slog igenom på 80-talet och som mycket snabbt fick stort inflytande och bidrog till att förnya genren. Hennes nya alster väcker fortfarande samma nyfikenhet då hon ständigt utvecklar sina uttrycksmedel. Eva Lindström är idag en förebild och inspirationskälla för många betydligt yngre svenska illustratörer. Emma Adbåge, Karin Cyrén, Camilla Engman, Joanna Hellgren, Maria Libert, Moa Schulman och Emelie Östergren har trots sina mycket personliga stilar många gemensamma nämnare. Långt ifrån att skapa «vackra», insmickrande bilder vågar de närma sig barnets egen bildvärld och experimenterar ofta med ett illusoriskt naivt men samtidigt mycket sofistikerat bildspråk, inte sällan med en subtil finurlighet och humor. I deras berättelser har naturen ofta en framträdande roll och inte sällan kan man även hitta surrealistiska stråk.
Även om barnboksillustration är en viktig del i deras arbeten så ägnar sig flera av dem även åt annat  som tecknade serier, animerad film och illustrationer för en vuxen publik. Trots deras ungdom har vissa redan fått ett flertal böcker översatta till andra språk, däribland franska.

Utställningen är producerad i samarbete med den italienska kulturföreningen Hamelin.

Vernissage i närvaro av Karin Cyrén och Emelie Östergren 2013.05.15 / 18:00 – 20:00

Fritt inträde. Tisdag – söndag  / 12:00 – 18:00
Obs! utställningen har sommarstängt  21 juni och 15 juli – 2 september.

Everything is very late with this book Little boxes. Not many people know about it and I will have a bookrealese now one year after the book offical was on the market. One will be in Stockholm and in my friends funitureshop Löftstrands verkstad this spring and the other will be on my favorit island Blidö in the archipelago of Stockholm this summer, in a house own and built by a artist couple I know on the island.

Here is one review of Little Boxes, by Sebastian Lönnlöf, LitteraturMagazinet.

The Swedish cartoonist Emelie Östergren, who always writes in English, has so far in his books and booklets demonstrated surrealism and fabulously fabulerande with minimal funds. The goods we get this time, in a brief but rich image-based narrative.

A woman living in a house with many little girls, but something is not as it should. From her paintings with sea motif starts leaking water on the floor. And not only that – girl after girl disappears. Some will come back briefly, but in the long run decimated the more and she does not know why. Nothing goes neither to do about it, it seems. The woman lives in his house and is perplexed. Confused. Lost Passage in a very strange reality.

Perhaps the solution behind the wallpaper? It is quite unclear what actually happens and it brings a sense of unease and uncertainty. That feeling is further enhanced by pictures: artistic, colorful, with rounded lines that draw shapes a little more in every direction than what I expect. It is simply very well signed and very uncomfortable pleasing “nightmarish storytelling”. Emelie Östergren continues to excel as one of the most imaginative and artistically talented cartoonist. She continues to publish books at this rate, I am happy!

This is the first glicheprint, waiting for its owner. It is very successful and so much better print that the poster!

It cost 150 € and you can order it from me personal. With or without framing.

The framed image is the glischeprint and the other image is on my original.

(Eng title. The Devil’s Wedding)

The Devil’s Wedding is a new book written by Gudrun Wessnert I made illustrations for. Gudrun Wessnert writes historical books, fantasy tales and ghost stories. This is a collaboration that you will see more of in the future. Down below you can se examples from the book.

I was one of the chosen to represent Swedish illustration on the Bolonga Bookfair 2013. Here comes the cataloges description about me and Evil Dress, the book that was picked out to be shown at the bookfair. Below that you can se a image of me and the presentaion of my work at the

Emelie Östergren has her very own take on the world. The book Evil Dress, 2009 contains 14 separate stories with and without text. It should perhaps be described as a pictorial story rather than a picturebook, although it is a book containing pictures. It opens and closes with a reference to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland,  a story that has slightly surreal undertones. This is a feature repeated in Emelie Östergren’s imagery, which also has Gothic influences. The subjective fantasy world that she creates is the setting for the various fragmentary tales, which offer both fear-tinged delight and melancholy insight.

The story of The Dollhouse involves an attempt at communication. The bored girl in the pink dress asks the pipe-smoking dandy whether they can do something, maybe play together. This leads to her starting to move things around randomly, including the books on the bookshelf, which she builds up around her while the man smokes and smokes. In response to his silence, she sets the curtains on fire, the armchairs and a bust of an angel, yielding an immediate reaction in a torrent of insults as he tries to put out the fire. Her vain and repeated attempts to resolve the impossible situation culminate in an ambivalent ending. Both characters sit on the floor in front of a newly lit fire in the fireplace, him with his arm around her back.  A similar lack of resolution can be found in the series about the two girls in white dresses with sailor collars. One girl grasps the other’s neck harder and harder, pushes her away, sets fire to her and finally puts a conciliatory arm around the scorched girl. There is always a serious undertone in the subjective choices that are made, filled as they are with an uncomfortable sense of total loneliness. under the apparently screwball surface there is always an honest and direct story. The way that Emelie Östergren mixes the sweet with the grotesque, honesty with gallows humour, in strong and sparse images, is raw and emotional, uncomfortable and charged, offering something for adults and young people alike.

I also was a part of the exibiton UpsideDown at the achelogical museum with contemporary Swedish illustration. The main artist was the great Eva Lindström. A really nice made exibition with alot of interest and visitors. For the opening it was 700 guests and it came even more. “Som en sardin i en sardinask”. Dow below you can se me again infront of the show.

Comics for Equality Award, a competition for the best unpublished comic strip authors with migrant backgrounds. Today the artists of the day was presented:

ARTIST OF THE DAY

Emelie Östergren (Sweden)

Emelie Östergren is a drawer and a cartoonist. She works and lives in Stockholm. She created a number of comicbooks and contributes in magazines as The Beleiver, Bang, Arena and Brand.

Today my illustration to the drive for Dawit Isaaks liberation. Its a collaboration between the swedish PEN society and the publishinghouse Kartago.  Read more down below.

“English PEN protests the decade-long imprisonment of Eritrean-Swedish journalist and author Dawit Isaak who has been detained incommunicado without charge since 23 September 2001. Dawit is said to be held in appalling conditions and to be in poor physical and mental health; there are serious concerns for his wellbeing.

Next week, 19-23 September 2011, PEN centres around the world will be taking part in a week of action for Dawit. We will be calling on the Eritrean authorities to provide details of his whereabouts and assurances that he is receiving all necessary medical treatment as a matter of urgency. We will also be calling for his immediate and unconditional release as well as that of the many other Eritreans imprisoned for their writings since September 2001. For details of actions and guidelines of how you can be involved, please see below.”

Here comes a illustration I made for the artikel ”End of men” in the swedish magazine Arena. Its a very good magazine you should all read it and Buy it!

I also made a 50*70 cm sixed posters of this illustration. Its now avalible to buy from me. Eatch cost 25 euros exclusive the shippingcost. I will soon have a paypal and etsy that makes everything more esy for you outside Sweden. But before that you can just contact me and I ship it to you!

Samhällspyramid till artikeln “End of men” i tidningen Arena. Kommer ut till nästa nummer.

Den här serien är baserad på en skulptur från ett av de tre Lettiska nationalmuseum som finns i Riga. The Pig är en skulptur gjord av the lettiska konstnären Teodor Zalkalns.

Ett projekt som jag gjorde i samarbete med en serieevent som tog plats i Riga arrangerad av seriekollektivet och tidningen Kus. Kolla in deras hemsida här. De är en strak kraft för serier i Lettland där det tidigare knappt existerade någon seriekultur.

Se hela serien här.