My name is Hampus Ericstam and I am an illustrator and painter and have worked professionally since 2002. Before that I worked 2 years as an art director. I am a member of The International Association of art (IAA). Which is great (basically it means I get free entries to art museums). Further down on this page is an interview made by Urbanwallcandy.
CLIENTS Vogue Nippon, Absolut, The New Yorker, DHL, Nieman Marcus, Virgin Mobile, EMI Music, Mastercard, Levis Strauss, Sony Ericsson, WAD magazine, WESC, Bon Magazine, Justin Timberlake/ BMG Music, Canal+, Lee Jeans, Target and beyond!
EXHIBITIONS
2010
Sept. 8 – Nov 8 STOCKHOLM (SWEDEN) Ljunggrens
2011
Mars 26 – 27 RIGA (LATVIA) Vieta Gallery
Sept. 8 STOCKHOLM (SWEDEN) Talentgallery
Sept. 27 – 14 Oct. LONDON (UK) Brick Lane Gallery
2012
October LEEDS (UK) Royal college of arts
Interview HAMPUS ERICSTAM
June 10, 2010
Hampus Ericstam is an illustrator and painter who turned professional in 2002. Before that he worked for 2 years as an art director.
Q. Tell me a little about you?
OK. I’m 34 years old and getting older by the minute. I started out for some ten years ago as an art director at a advertising firm in Stockholm. After two years I quit and started to go back to basic fun stuff and doing more graphics. During the last years i have been painting allot more and moving more away from the computer. I buy basic canvas and paint with markers like posca and krink.
Q. How would you define style?
I thinks its quite basic when it comes to my more commercial work. Its mostly alot of layers and a “sticker feel /collage” to it and 2-3 colours OR all colours haha. One thing I have done since the beginning of time is building/ creating robots of different stuff. Like a garbagefrankenstein. I had this door in my room when i was little and I started to put stickers on it and eventually put more and more. After a while i noticed that you could create, figures lego style if you put them together. It looked even better if you tried to keep the colour scale, then it visually separated from all the stickers beneath Last year that paid off when I did a campaign for American Target. The art director had seen this John Holmes 80s monster I did. It was an editorial about how afraid we were during the 80s for the VCR with all the chainsaw massacre movies and porn coming into our homes and the Pacman games that would take over our children’s brains. Its fun now to look back at that innocent era when we are having 35 year old in World of warcraft rehabs today.
Q. What do you think has shaped your particular style?
If you were born in the 70s the video games and the development of that is of course a huge impact. Especially for maybe my colour scales… When i paint i tend to go for a screen printed look and painting large fields of the same colour like church windows. I love paintings that turned up in your history books when in school from Delacroix and Francisco Goya which has this epic feel but “journalistic view”. For Americans “Washington crossing the delaware” is a perfect example. These freezed moments of time which are mostly so full of historical inaccuracies but so full of details that you start to start to really fall into the picture and build your own story to all the different characters. Then you got used books so the kids before you drew alot on these pictures and added more story and jokes to them which were superfun. Maybe i was just bored in school as everyone but anyway I see something of this in my paintings.
Q. What got you in to designing?
For me living in sweden the biggest thing was when Yo MTV raps started to air around 89. It opened up a whole world for me. It was incredible to follow Fab 5 Freddy around new york and hanging out with lets say Gangstarr and see what they were actually doing an ordinary day. Then Beastie Boys Pauls Boutique was massive influence of cut and paste and you can do it yourself approach. That later led to the magazine Grand Royal and skatemagazine Big Brother. The cereal box issue filled with Sugar coated penis pops is legendary. Oh I have to mention Nirvanas Nevermind.
This record proved that great music can be produced by anyone and you dont have to be a technically guitargenius dressed like kiss to sell a record. Then also when i saw the exhibition Sensation 1997 in London and it changed me forever. Damien Hirsts shark was the least mindblowing thing in there. Anyway all of this and alot more led me to try doing stuff for fun and not think to much about it.
Q. Professionally, what’s your goal?
To move on and try new stuff which mostly happens during bad economical times like now.
Q. What wouldn’t you do without?
The total freedom to say, write, wear and draw whatever you like. We can never surrender to extremists of any kind.
Website: g4000.com
That is it for this focus on Hampus, hope you enjoyed the read…..
Thanks
Urban Wallcandy
CLIENTS Vogue Nippon, Absolut, The New Yorker, DHL, Nieman Marcus, Virgin Mobile, EMI Music, Mastercard, Levis Strauss, Sony Ericsson, WAD magazine, WESC, Bon Magazine, Justin Timberlake/ BMG Music, Canal+, Lee Jeans, Target and beyond!
EXHIBITIONS
2010
Sept. 8 – Nov 8 STOCKHOLM (SWEDEN) Ljunggrens
2011
Mars 26 – 27 RIGA (LATVIA) Vieta Gallery
Sept. 8 STOCKHOLM (SWEDEN) Talentgallery
Sept. 27 – 14 Oct. LONDON (UK) Brick Lane Gallery
2012
October LEEDS (UK) Royal college of arts
Interview HAMPUS ERICSTAM
June 10, 2010
Hampus Ericstam is an illustrator and painter who turned professional in 2002. Before that he worked for 2 years as an art director.
Q. Tell me a little about you?
OK. I’m 34 years old and getting older by the minute. I started out for some ten years ago as an art director at a advertising firm in Stockholm. After two years I quit and started to go back to basic fun stuff and doing more graphics. During the last years i have been painting allot more and moving more away from the computer. I buy basic canvas and paint with markers like posca and krink.
Q. How would you define style?
I thinks its quite basic when it comes to my more commercial work. Its mostly alot of layers and a “sticker feel /collage” to it and 2-3 colours OR all colours haha. One thing I have done since the beginning of time is building/ creating robots of different stuff. Like a garbagefrankenstein. I had this door in my room when i was little and I started to put stickers on it and eventually put more and more. After a while i noticed that you could create, figures lego style if you put them together. It looked even better if you tried to keep the colour scale, then it visually separated from all the stickers beneath Last year that paid off when I did a campaign for American Target. The art director had seen this John Holmes 80s monster I did. It was an editorial about how afraid we were during the 80s for the VCR with all the chainsaw massacre movies and porn coming into our homes and the Pacman games that would take over our children’s brains. Its fun now to look back at that innocent era when we are having 35 year old in World of warcraft rehabs today.
Q. What do you think has shaped your particular style?
If you were born in the 70s the video games and the development of that is of course a huge impact. Especially for maybe my colour scales… When i paint i tend to go for a screen printed look and painting large fields of the same colour like church windows. I love paintings that turned up in your history books when in school from Delacroix and Francisco Goya which has this epic feel but “journalistic view”. For Americans “Washington crossing the delaware” is a perfect example. These freezed moments of time which are mostly so full of historical inaccuracies but so full of details that you start to start to really fall into the picture and build your own story to all the different characters. Then you got used books so the kids before you drew alot on these pictures and added more story and jokes to them which were superfun. Maybe i was just bored in school as everyone but anyway I see something of this in my paintings.
Q. What got you in to designing?
For me living in sweden the biggest thing was when Yo MTV raps started to air around 89. It opened up a whole world for me. It was incredible to follow Fab 5 Freddy around new york and hanging out with lets say Gangstarr and see what they were actually doing an ordinary day. Then Beastie Boys Pauls Boutique was massive influence of cut and paste and you can do it yourself approach. That later led to the magazine Grand Royal and skatemagazine Big Brother. The cereal box issue filled with Sugar coated penis pops is legendary. Oh I have to mention Nirvanas Nevermind.
This record proved that great music can be produced by anyone and you dont have to be a technically guitargenius dressed like kiss to sell a record. Then also when i saw the exhibition Sensation 1997 in London and it changed me forever. Damien Hirsts shark was the least mindblowing thing in there. Anyway all of this and alot more led me to try doing stuff for fun and not think to much about it.
Q. Professionally, what’s your goal?
To move on and try new stuff which mostly happens during bad economical times like now.
Q. What wouldn’t you do without?
The total freedom to say, write, wear and draw whatever you like. We can never surrender to extremists of any kind.
Website: g4000.com
That is it for this focus on Hampus, hope you enjoyed the read…..
Thanks
Urban Wallcandy