@hampusha

Instagram: @hampusha Ello: ello.co/hampusha Website: www.hampusha.com  

1.What's your story? Where are you from?

Born in Uppsala, Sweden. Moved around. Ended up in Uppsala, Sweden.

2. Tell us about your aesthetic.

I’m a bit of a chameleon and change a lot. But when I think of my style I see something kinda bulky and clumsy. I don’t like it when things get too elegant. I try to get to that point where things feel agreeably awkward.

3. What is your favourite medium and why?

I work with paper. I guess it started with gift wrapping. Each year around christmas my wrappings would get more and more elaborate. Until one day I realised that I don’t need the gift as a excuse to do things with paper.

4. What is your artistic process like?

I see a lot of images in a state of half sleep that I think are really captivating. A day’s work usually starts with taking a more sober position on these visuals. A lot gets rejected in that process. It’s a bit like that Seinfeld episode where Jerry writes a joke down in the middle of the night which he thinks is the funniest ever. Eventually he realises it’s not funny at all. But sometimes I find something worth pursuing. I like the idea of working from dreams and turning them into objects in this world that can be touched and interacted with.

5. Who and/or what inspires your work?

I’m more inspired by music than anything visual. I’m drawn to the energy in music and how it derives from harmony and flow. I also think a lot about sex while working, even though my work seldom ends up overtly erotic. It’s because sex is so obviously relational and the energy of the whole transcends the individual parts. Art should aspire to great sex - it has to make sense on a bodily, sensual, pre-verbal level. But of course, I also draw visual inspiration from different spheres - fashion magazines, graffiti, comics, movies.

6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?

I guess great art can propose concepts for grasping aspects of the world. However, I would say that my own art is pretty disconnected from the world, it exist in its own bubble. I wish I could be more political in my images. But I also think that art is such a valuable force in it’s own autonomous right that it doesn’t really need to say anything about the surrounding world. So even if I think about art most of the time, it doesn’t really change how I see the world in any meaningful way. Well, maybe in the sense that the world around me becomes more fun when I can see it as forms and shapes to use for art.

7. Where did you study?

I studied Art History in Umeå, Sweden and film studies in Stockholm, Sweden. I don’t have formal artistic training but I think my knowledge of the history of art has been invaluable in developing my own aesthetics. I also did graffiti when I was younger and a lot of that attitude is still with me.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years?

A bit better at whatever it is I do.

9. What about in ten?

A bit better still, but not so good as to feel done, hopefully.

10. What do you hope to achieve with your art?

The thrill is to add stuff to the world that wasn’t there before. And it is pretty amazing to think that somebody might find value in this.

11. Now, tell us a little more about you as a person: what is your favourite food?

Anything with chili and/or peanut butter. Pasta with loads of parmesan.

12. Favourite book?

Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. Anything by Jonathan Franzen.

13. Favourite genre of music?

Hip hop, R&B, techno.

14. What are your hobbies?

Taking long walks and listening to music, preferably at the same time. People-watching.

15. If you weren't an artist, what would you be?

Let’s just say that art saved me from being an academic.