lifeiscarbon®

Everyday Photographic Surrealism

Following in the tradition of Tony-Ray Jones, Garry Winogrand, Jacques Henri Lartigue and Mary Ellen Mark (with whom she recently studied), the young Norwegian photographer Mona Ødegård seeks out people in their natural habitat and photographs them in their most unguarded moments. Her quietly intriguing photographs reveal the nature of modern life as a series of narrowly avoided catastrophes.

With her distinctive aesthetic sense, Ødegård´s photographs somehow manage to slow time and show us glimpses of a world that, for all its technology, still relies on simple human interaction. Follow the link to read more about Mona Ødegård, one of our favorite Scandinavian photographers, and to see a small selection of her work:

Quintessential Scandinavian Photographer

Born in Scotland and educated in San Francisco, and yet for us, Julie Pike is a quintessentially Scandinavian photographer. Seemingly innocent and playful images are often tinged with a sense of melancholy. Describing her own work as fragile but strong, and as nostalgic with an edge, few photographers manage to capture and utilize the unique quality of Scandinavian light as successfully as Julie Pike. 

Based in Oslo, since 2001, the photographer´s work has been widely exhibited internationally and published in a range of magazines around the world: Including many of the notable independents such as Cake, Carl´s Cars, Vanity Teen, Let Them Eat Cake, I Love Fake, Nylon, Tokion Factory, Vice and S Magazine.

Loving the photographers work as we do makes it difficult to pick our favorites, but take a look below to see a small selection of Julie Pike´s stunning images: 

blackgraphite by lifeiscarbon®

Photo by Danièle Martinie

Given the frequent coverage of Scandinavian photography here on lifeiscarbon® and our long running carboncollective™ series, it´s no secret that we have a vested interest in photography. In between our various commercial projects we are sometimes commissioned to do fashion shoots. In the spirit of openness and honesty, we thought it time we shared one of our other popular blogs with you. blackgraphite® is a continual curation of random inspiration for our various art fashion photo shoots. Take a look below to see a small selection of images and start following blackgraphite® today:

New Book from Lina Scheynius

Lina Scheynius, one of our favorite Swedish photographers, will be launching her latest book this week at the Mörel Space in London. The first edition of the photographer´s third book, published in an A5 format with 80 pages, is limited to 1000 numbered and signed copies. Given the popularity of the Lina´s first two books, both of which quickly sold out, we´ve already nabbed a copy. You can do the same by following the link below:

Surreal Scandinavian Ceramics

Since graduating in 2008, Danish ceramic artist Maria Rubinke has attracted an enormous amount of attention with her unconventional small-scale sculptures. The inherent innocence of porcelain figurines is put at risk in the artist's work, in which various catastrophes result in fragmentation and deformation. Violence and aggression are often played out in bloody tableaux, in strong sharp contrast to the decorative delicacy of the materials used. Powerful, disturbing and thought provoking work. Take a look below at some of our favorite pieces by Maria Rubinke.

carboncollective™: Julie Loen

carboncollective™ is an ongoing series of articles about some of the more interesting up and coming photographers from Scandinavia. Over the last few years, we've selected some of the best new photographers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in order to showcase a selection of their work. The photographers are all proponents of the New Nordic Photography movement and demonstrate a strong sense of Scandinavian Æsthetics in their work.

The latest photographer in our series is Julie Loen, a freelance art and fashion photographer from Norway. Take a look below to read about Julie´s source of inspiration and to see a gallery of her work:

Knotan Revisited

Our friend Knotan, the talented Swedish photographer, has been busier than ever since we last wrote about him and his reputation for edgy, gritty and unusual shoots continues to grow. In the last year alone, his work has appeared in an impressive list of indie and avant-garde magazines, including Soundvenue, Kasino, Radar, Esper, Resolution, Lowdown, Gymclass, Regia, Purple, People, Rosebud and Nico.

Lina Scheynius Revisited

Due to the number of emails received whilst we were away, we´re planning to relaunch carboncollective™, the series in which we showcased some of the more interesting up and coming photographers from Scandinavia. Over the last few years, we've selected some of the more interesting new photographers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in order to exhibit a small selection of their work.

New Art Of Glass

Lipsticks, high-heels and phalli. Power, gender and consumerism. Just some of the icons and ideas explored in the work of glass artist, Åsa Jungnelius. Often using stereotypically charged objects as reference points in order to either hyper-emphasize or subvert their established meaning, Jungnelius creates larger-than-life objects of feminine beauty at the Åfors Glassworks in Småland, Sweden.

Danish Incongruity

Nine Letter Words (Rubik's cube revisited) 2007

Ambiguity of language seems to be at the heart of the Danish conceptual artist Kasper Sonne’s work. Familiar words and expressions, when placed in a new context (for example on building rooftops, on advertising billboards or as neon signs), become absurdist philosophical statements that leave us pondering possible new meanings. Sounding at one and the same time like clichéd lines from movies and unanswerable existential questions, Kasper Sonne’s statements have a powerful brevity and precision.

Despite our increasing acceptance of oxymorons, contradictions seem to be the choice of weapon for Kasper Sonne to make us stop and reflect. Often the work is the title, and the title is the work. Even if the words in themselves are seemingly easy to understand, his work can be about something as incomprehensible as eternity or the end of it, as in Forever until the end.

The Mystical World Of Trinidad Carrillo

Our friends at Farewell Books have recently published their fifth book, Naini and the Sea of Wolves by Trinidad Carrillo, and it’s already won the Swedish Photobook Award 2008. The beautiful volume features Carrillo's daughter Naini as the story's main character and the book describes a world of poetic reality, in which dreams and memories are intertwined.

Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, Farewell is a small but fascinating independent publisher of artists books. With a primary focus on photography, Farewell produces and publishes simple but stunningly beautiful artist books. (Take a look at our earlier profile of Farewell Books)

Experimental Art Laboratory

Our favorite art publishers, Taschen, have just launched a beautiful volume on Studio Olafur Eliasson, the experimental laboratory located in Berlin led by renowned Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. The new sourcebook delves into the corners and crevices of the Studio's diverse projects and presents the key concepts behind the works through a series of short conversations with the artist. The majority of Eliasson's thought-provoking installations, photographs, sculptures, and architectural projects to date are included, with additional material focusing on the research processes at Studio Olafur Eliasson.

Olafur Eliasson was born (1967) in Copenhagen of Icelandic parents. He attended the Royal Academy of Arts in Copenhagen from 1989 to 1995 and has since participated in numerous exhibitions worldwide with his work being represented in many public and private collections including the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Deste Foundation in Athens and Tate Modern in London. Take a look below to read more about the artist and see a selection of his work:

Contemporary Icelandic Art

Hrafnkell Sigurðsson

Given the harsh volcanic and glacial landscape of their sparsely populated country, it’s no surprise that the work of many Icelandic artists is greatly influenced by landscape. “Modern Icelandic art is rooted in landscape, but it has little to do with the classical European tradition with its idyllic atmosphere and picturesque order” says Halldór Björn Runólfsson, Director of the National Gallery of Iceland and curator of a new exhibition at Scandinavia House in New York.

Entitled From Another Shore: Recent Icelandic Art, the new show represents a survey of contemporary Icelandic art and includes sculpture, installation, painting, photography, and videos by 21 of Iceland’s most acclaimed artists: Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir, Olga Bergmann, Hildur Bjarnadóttir, Margrét H. Blöndal, Ólafur Elíasson, Steingrímur Eyfjörð, Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, Hulda Hákon, Guðný Rósa Ingimarsdóttir, Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir, Ragnar Kjartansson, Ólöf Nordal, Jón Óskar, Eggert Pétursson, Magnús Sigurðarson, Hulda Stefánsdóttir and our favorites Katrín Sigurðardóttir, Hrafnkell Sigurðsson, and The Icelandic Love Corporation (Sigrún Hrólfsdóttir, Jóní Jónsdóttir, and Eirún Sigurðardóttir).

Many of the artists in From Another Shore: Recent Icelandic Art seem to draw vitality and creativity from the contrast between the sublime emptiness of the Icelandic landscape and the bustling energy of cosmopolitan cities around the world in which they now live and work. Look below to read more about the artists represented in the show and to see a small selection of their work:

carboncollective™: Lina Scheynius

carboncollective™ is an ongoing series in which we are showcasing some of the more interesting up and coming photographers from Scandinavia. Over the last year, we've selected some of the best new photographers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in order to show you a selection of their work. All of the photographers we've chosen are proponents of the New Nordic Photography movement and demonstrate a strong sense of Scandinavian Æsthetics.

Our latest photographer in the series is Lina Scheynius (born 1981) from Sweden. Originally from the small Swedish town of Vänersborg, Lina was brought up in Trollhättan in the southwest of the country. As well as being home to Saab Auto and Volvo Aero, these days Trollhättan is also home to the Swedish film industry and fast becoming known as Trollywood (Fucking Åmål, Dancer in the Dark and Dogville are just a few of the films to have been shot there).

Despite having only shown her work for the last two years, Lina has already chalked up an impressive list of exhibitions, having been included in a group show in London, two in Dublin and one in Lund, Sweden. 2008 is shaping up to be an even busier year for Lina, with a further four shows including one in Barcelona, one in Paris and two in New York.

We love the brooding sense of intimacy and subtle play of light in Lina’s photography together with the way she injects mystery into everyday moments. See for yourself by taking a look at a selection of her work below and in the new carboncollective™ IX gallery. Remember to read the profiles of the other photographers in the carboncollective™ series and to view our galleries of their work:

Art Commerce Collision

The Swedish-American renegade creative duo Hart + Larsson have been quite a stir of late, first with their spoof Marc Jacobs advertising campaign (complete with it’s Juergen Teller pastiche) and then with their hijacking of the front cover of New York Magazine. Envious of their ability to mix art with commerce, lifeiscarbon® recently caught up with Tomas Larsson to hear about some of their more interesting projects.

“More than anything, we are purveyors of style. We want to create things - whether it be films, photography, websites or clothing - that all refer back to the H+L style. Ultimately we want to populate the world with things that posses a certain look or voice. We see no clear distinction between art and commerce. What we do, in essence, is called The New Enthusiasm.”

“Some of our more notable past and present clients are AOL, MTV, GE, Olympus, Mike&Ike, Every Day With Rachael Ray, and Paramount. Presently we are developing an original online program with Comedy Central.”

Take a look below to read more about Hart + Larrson and to see some our favorite projects by them. YouTube, Frank Gehry and Brad Pitt are just a few of those who have had the honor of being given given the Hart + Larrson treatment: