During the summer of 2021 am participating in Havremagasinets exhibition “Soil” as part of the project “Artists interpret the AP-funds“.
“John Huntington and Ilona Huss Walin survey the esthetics and vocabulary in this series of paintings. It is a pre-study for Huntington’s and Huss Walin’s contribution to the project Konstnärer tolkar AP-fonderna.
One finds it difficult not to laugh studying the paintings. There is a playfulness and generous dose of sarcasm. The contradictions of the source material become evident in the psychotic smile of the Preem-bear or in the misspelling of“Human Enegy”. Simply because the expression is simplistic and childish it becomes an excellent means of dethroning and demystifying the multinational giant corporations that lets us approach them in a more direct and honest manner. Because isn’t their behavior – ignoring and denying the consequences of their actions, if anything, infantile and childish. In these images we witness that reality without the veneer innocence created by their marketing departments. We meet them face-to-face on our own level, or perhaps, slightly below our level. We have no obligation to treat them with deference simply because they are huge international businesses. After all, it is our pensions. Every Swedish worker is a co-owner.”
Read more about the exhibition
