Ola Kalnins (L) and Robbin Carlzon (R) – Photo courtesy of the artists
On January 3, the monthly First Fridays Long Beach art walk in Bixby Knolls is presenting Wet Paint: Sweden To California, an exhibition of paintings by Swedish artists Ola Kalnins and Robbin Carlzon. The exhibition is taking place from 6:30 to 9:30 PM in the North Gallery of the Expo Arts Center, which is located at 4321 Atlantic.
While the two have been working together since they were kids, and have an active art studio in Sweden, they’re constantly traveling. This nomadic lifestyle has helped to shape their brand, Eurotrash, which belies the sophistication of their collaborative efforts. Robbin brings a strong illustrative quality to the work, while Ola brings his unique abstraction and graffiti writing skills to their works.
I spoke with Ola when he was recently in New York City. He describes the work as modern surrealism.
“Imagine a jazz band,” he said. “I’m writing the melodies, and he is writing the lyrics. The work’s got roots from all of our adventures around the world. This is not taking graffiti from the trains or streets to the galleries. This is simply art made by us, inspired from our life style. A lot of people would prefer to call it street art, but it’s really not. That’s just a trendy label people prefer to us for art with these kinds of roots.”
Ola has been creating mixed media artwork since he was a child. In 1997, he left school early to create his first studio.
“I shared a big studio with a lot of musicians, for seven years, and we have always inspired each other. I see my art as music. It’s almost like cooking. When I paint I try to be as free as possible, to not think too much when I start something. After a while, the painting turns into a situation I have to save with something, like adding black and white. It is like adding high hats and bass kicks [to music], or salt and pepper [to food]. [laughs] It’s contrast!”
Ola’s mother was artistic, too. She worked in film and theater creating sets.
“I think it inspired me a lot. I’m more about creating different feelings or states of mind with my art. The statement can be more hidden, but the feeling should be strong. It doesn’t matter if art is in a fancy restaurant or a underground hip-hop club, an apartment or a school, a subway or art gallery. Art took me to interesting places I would never have seen. The [same is true of] the people I meet, and their stories. That’s bigger than the art form itself. The life style creates the art for me. It is all about the travels. If I work with art – do graffiti – I don’t feel like a tourist anymore. It’s like the universal key to get into any society.”
Ola’s work has appeared in public and, lately, he’s been knocking on doors, asking for permission to paint on privately owned walls.
“I always end up getting mad life stories from strangers that I find very inspiring.”
Ola admits that his artistic connection with Robbin began through their shared love of graffiti and that their brand, Eurotrash, arose from their nomadic lifestyle.
“Both of us have always been creatively restless since we were born. We’ve been drawing and stuff since we were kids. We have been traveling with super low budgets since we were 15 or 16. In the beginning, we were living on the streets around South Europe, just painting, until we got to know so many people around the world that we never ever had to worry about where to stay or what to do. I always have people there for me wherever I want to go in the world, which is better than having money. Right now, I’m writing people in South America to see if I can find some projects to do there, instead of going home to Sweden. Before, I was only trying to do graffiti on my trips but, lately, I am really trying to use my network to get my [studio] art up as well.”
On January 11, Ola will be bringing his work up to Beverly Hills for a one night pop up art show. The show is being put on by J-Ro, one of the founding members of Tha Alkaholiks, a celebrated L.A. based hip-hop act that was first active in the early 90s. According to Ola, J-Ro lived in Sweden form many years, and also in his studio for a while, so he and his people are helping him with the show.
For more information about First Fridays, visit FirstFridaysLongBeach.com.