I admit… I’m sort of a huge, pompous blowhard when it comes to the strident truism “great art or not, a good story still needs good storytelling and plot!”
Yet here I am, just blown away by Swedish-dude Simon’s incredible collection of wordless paintings offered up in the “comic book” Flood, each page of which arguably provides ~1000 possible stories alone, if only one’s eyes merely observe a bit, so to speak.
https://i.imgur.com/Y79JkeC.jpeg
Simon Stålenhag (b. 1984) is the internationally acclaimed author and artist behind The Electric State, Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood. His highly imaginative images and stories depicting illusive sci-fi phenomena in mundane, hyper-realistic Scandinavian and American landscapes have made Stålenhag one of the most sought-after visual storytellers in the world. Tales from the Loop was ranked one of the “10 Best Dystopias” by The Guardian, along with such works as Franz Kafka’s The Trial and Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca. --salomonssonagency.se
https://i.imgur.com/OwErKyT.jpeg
Now me, as someone who’s arguably overly-fixated on post-apoc works, I love how Simon keeps playing with that definition:
“Perhaps we know these situations.”
“Perhaps they’re complete fantasy.”
“Perhaps we’re merely gazing through a muddy troposphere!”
https://i.imgur.com/geWNIcR.jpeg
In any case, I hope you enjoyed this tiny introduction to Simon’s work. There is his official site.
His website is one of my oldest bookmarks
His paintings feel like impromptu photographs. So many little details of an imagined world. I thought the Tales From The Loop show really “got” his work, too
Definitely. It’s really quite amazing IMO.
I struggled trying to put my finger on it, but I think maybe his command of ‘focus and blurring’ do a great deal to sell these as photos without the need to overly-detail everything, which is what some might think of when it comes to photorealistic art.
But also, yeah-- there’s something about the way he frames things and lays everything out that also make them feel like photos. Not looking for ‘perfect shots,’ but simulating when a person just pauses a few moments and drinks in a vista with their eyes.
I agree with all that and would like to add that he includes the perfect level of detail - enough to “explain” the world but not so much that they feel deliberately placed.
I was never a hater but I’m not usually into paintings or visual art in general and I could look at his stuff for hours. It was a revelation, I finally understood how people could be obsessed with paintings
Sorry for this super-duper late response!
Just wanted to say:
yes, wow!