Ministry Blog

SOLD in 2017

In 2005 a painting-project was carried out despite the fact that the Minister of Art really doesn’t like to paint… And being a bit color blind also makes it a bit of a chore to paint.

As soon as “Artist” is mentioned in a conversation the question “Oh, so you’re an artist, what do you paint?” seems to be inevitable. So finally I thought to myself… “darnation, I have to make a painting”. At the same time my car needed a paintjob and I had been thinking a bit over a project an old Hero (Warhol) made once for BMW. He painted a car (litteraly) so finally I found a painting project I could come to terms with. It was carried out for the Eslöv Biannual 2005 and was called “Warhol Replica“.

The old faithful that had been serving the Minister for many years (since 1990), first as a car and then as both car and art-piece – a SAAB 900 Aero mod 1987 with a 225 bhp 2-liter turbo engine. The new owner is a true SAAB-connoisseur and the Minister was glad to see the little gem end up in the care of a gentle SAAB owner.

For a while now, at least a few months and definitely since the Biennale in Eslöv last fall I’ve been made aware about a fact that I didn’t really know (or think about) before that. I am a full fledged Freedom of Speech Fundamentalist. I didn’t know there was a term like that (or that it was necessary). But since then I’ve heard that there is such a thing and that I seem to be one. What is a Freedom of Speech Fundamentalist? How do one abbreviate that? Is it FOSF, or FSF? Anyway, such a person is the strenuous type of person that actually defend the right to speak up and express yourself – as long as it’s not against the law to do so. And perhaps even across that border… One could suspect that such a person might think that there is an unnecessary correctness and do not believe in Political Correctness or self-censoring. I’m just guessing here…

Anyway. The good news is that the Ministry now have produced a new line of t-shirts with the text “Freedom of Speech Fundamentalist”. The t-shirt is available in several sizes and the text is available in Swedish or English. The price is quite moderate approximately 12 Euros COD, shipping excluded. Other languages are available – please contact the Ministry for orders.

Some years ago the Minister was hired to make a great (big) artwork – a wall painting for the public sector. The painting was very appreciated and was painted in the localities were it later was on display. When the Minister was hired for the task he more or less got free hands. The Minister gratefully accepted the mission and carried out sketches that in fact was given to the enterprise for approval. Non of it was refused.

One incident during the paintwork was a unsuccessful attempt to destroy one part of the wall painting. Apparently some nut case decided that a castle in the air was “too foreign” and was “not accepted” – as the perpetrator wrote in big black letters right across the castle…. From that we can conclude that the last idiot hasn’t been born yet.

One lady of Indian origin saw the painting at one time and expressed awe over how very Indian it looked in it’s architecture (even if the Minister was only fantasizing a building). Today the artwork is dismantled and are now up for sale. Take a closer look at the project and painting at the Ministry website, were you can see it both in detail and bigger images. The wall painting was painted on boards to be movable and are screwed to the wall through several holes. The wall painting measures approximately 2×11 meters (roughly 6×33 feet).

The “Carpe Diem” wall painting (2×11 meters). If you have the space for it, you can now buy it!