- First of all. Who is Andreas Englund and how would you define your work?

I was born in Falun -74 and moved to Stockholm -96 and have lived and worked here ever since.

Woking as an Artist and an Art Director is perfect for me. Both professions complement each other and give energy and ideas to one another.

I´ve always wanted to share my thoughts with others, either through conversation or visual media. That’s why working with communication as an Art Director became a natural choice for me at first. It gave me the tools to understand and analyze what makes people connect. To share insights and thoughts, experience and humor.

My insights from working with communication gave me the tools from where I built my foundation as an artist.

I want to make pieces that communicate stories. With the storytelling key elements. That’s where the ”not so perfect” super hero concept came to life. My insights from working with communication gave me the tools from where I built my foundation.

1. What kind of superhero are you portraying in your pieces?

I want to let people know the full story of the life of this superhero. One part of it is getting old but he´s also portrayed in other periods of his life.

I think my super hero is like most people are. No better no worse. Only his job is to be that great hero who saves the world. In that story is a big drama. He is supposed to live up to everyones expectations which is quite stressful and I think many can relate to that situation.

Capturing the lives of "Perfect people" is boring and predictable. I like the human flaws and weaknesses. I need to see that in a character to believe in him, to care about him and to be interested in him. There is also a drama in putting this extraordinary superhero in an every day life situation.

But that doesn´t mean I want to portray him as a fool or incompetent in any way. He´s just like anyone else except for his unique powers.

2. What was your inspiration behind him?

I´ve always been inspired by ancient sculpture. Back in 2004 I wanted to do a funny version of the famous greek sculpture”The discus thrower” made by the sculptor Myron. My version was meant to be called ”The can opener”. In that process I changed from the ”ancient superhero” to a modern version and the first painting ”strawberry jam” was born.

3. How where you discovered online?

My paintings are immediate visual stories that are meant to be shared with others, wether on your wall at home or on your social media profile. Like sharing a book or a film but in this case you don´t have to have read it or seen it first – it´s instant. This is very suitable when in todays era of ”sharing” on the net. You can tell and share a story with just an image – without much effort. I think that´s the reason why my series was so well received.

4. When will we see your pieces live again?

Next exhibition is planned to take place in venice L.A. next spring. I´m looking forward to seeing you there!