C: So it has really come to this. Now you are interviewing yourself??
C: Yes mam.
C: Whatever… So what is up with you and HuskMitNavn? Why do you love him SO freaking much?
C: The other day I saw a quote by Joss Whedon that said: “Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, saute it, whatever. MAKE!” And it kind of reminded me of HuskMitNavn because he does that – he MAKES – his “production” comes across in many different media and and he is pretty generous about it – he shares his work. I often come across his posters, murals or graffiti in my daily life as I am biking around Copenhagen.
C: Who is he?
C: Well, as you saw in my (ehm, award winning) interview with him, he draws. I have seen him referred to as a street artist and a graffiti artist but he also makes illustrations for magazines and newspapers and exhibits in established settings such as galleries. He is Danish (like me), born in 1975 (like me) and anonymous (also like me).
C: Yeah, wow, you REALLY have a lot in common. So, what’s the big woop?
C: First of all, he has a wonderful sense of humour. “Funny” is a result of cognetive dissonans – we laugh because we are surprised. He uses this type of humour a lot. Like the drawing where a blue whale fell into someone’s roof. The guy is standing outside, going : “Not again!”
In the interview, he says that his mission is to make something that people can recognize themselves in. Well: Mission accomplished! Often, to me, it is not only just that I recognize it, it is that I hadn’t thought of it but then when he draws it, I get all: “Ooh, yeah, I know how that is”. He did these posters of “Your dad as a young man” and it is just SO damn funny to me. Well.. Like with most things, the magic kind of goes away if you analyze it, so I’ll just shut up now about WHY it is funny. It just is.
There is a profoundness to his things, sometimes sad, sometimes funny but often with an existentialistic undercurrent. Like the picture of a big doodle with a red dot that says: “You are here”. It blows my mind! Or the one entitled “You and Me Forever” of a couple holding hands; she is secretly glancing at her watch.
He also likes to “interact” with his drawings and he just does it so elegantly. I also love his “meta-drawings” – where he draws drawings of drawings. Like the painting of someone hanging a painting, going “Is it straight now?” He sees the greatness in the small things. Like the guy running in the rain, holding his laptop over his head – like an electronically newspaper. Brilliant.
My favorite is the picture Prince Charming, riding a magical unicorn, wearing a crown and ripples abs. The picture is entitled: “He Has Come to Take You Away” and – considerate as only Prince Charming would be, he asks: “Do you need to go to the bathroom before we leave?”
I also love the picture of the sleazeball waiter, wearing his shirt way unbuttoned and sunglasses in his greased-up hair, entitled: “Your real dad”. Hahaha. Seriously, if he is as funny in real life as he is in his art, I want to have his babies.
C: I thought you were too old for more kids??!
C: Yeah, well for him, I would do an exception.
C: What is with the “Cheeseburger song?”
C: Danish hillbillies and rednecks love a song that goes like this (my translation):
Call it love
Call it anything you want
Oh uh ooh
There are no words
No words that quite suffice
So call it whatever you want.
He writes out these lyrics and then adds: “Cheeseburger”.
I have been singing that damn song for a week now – adding, in a serious News-anker-woman-type-voice: Cheeseburger!” My kids are singing it.
C: Guess you had to be there…
C: Yes, well, don’t take my words for his brilliance – go check out his work at www.huskmitnavn.com
Tell him “hi” from Cinda.
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