Fredrik Åkum
We've got a file on the Gothenburg-based artist, zine-lover, publisher, and designer Fredrik Åkum.
Fredrik Åkum explores the way his medium translates quick glimpses of paradise, those moments of summertime bliss, serene landscapes, and figurative expression. His process is simple. He snaps an instant Polaroid for reference. The artist then uses acrylic, water, and inks blend together to the point of the unpredictable, offering his narrative scenes a chance to reflect back and forth between perceived reality and fantasy. Nothing Major got a chance to speak with the artist before his latest duo exhibition with Niklas Persson, Copycat Underdog.
Name: Fredrik Åkum
DOB: January 12th, 1987
Current City: Gothenburg, Sweden
"Anna-Lotta and Found Leaf"
Current occupation: Fine artist, co-founder of the zine-oriented project Jarko, co-founder of the design firm Orosberg, and vice-chairman at the artist-run gallery Box in Gothenburg.
Jarko
Career-defining moment: Could be very early, I’ve kind of done what I do as long as I can remember.
Last design item you bought: Just ordered a Sandqvist apron that I will use for messy painting.
Most beloved item of clothing past or present: My grandmother knitted a gray sweater for me when I was like 12, I still use it, and somehow it seems to grow with me; it’s a bit oversized at the moment.
Most treasured design object: I try to have a less sentimental relationship to stuff I own, so I don’t get depressed when it disappears or gets destroyed, so I don’t treasure them too much.
Valley Zine
Worst trend you regret embracing: I had shaved a mohawk for a while.
"By The Lake"
Favorite room in the house: I’m homeless; any room would be great at the moment. (No worries, though)
"Teenage Wasteland"
Favorite museum or gallery: Steinsland Berliner, Stockholm. Best owners, artists, and crowd; so proud to be a part of it. Other than that I like Universeum in Gothenburg, where you can visit a rain forest and pet sharks.
Drink of choice: The Swedish beer “TT” (Three Towns) is probably the drink that never gets old for me. It was made in the 50s to be exported in the U.S., but it didn’t get that big there.
Untitled 2013 by Malin Gabriella Nordin
Artist/designer you collect: At the moment I have a couple of pieces by Jacob Hurtig, Malin Gabriella Nordin and Ragnar Persson, and a collection of nearly 400 art zines from all over the world.
"Sunny Youth"
Untitled zine, 2011
Favorite album cover: I’d say No Age Losing Feeling, with the melting vinyl record. I kind of made a tribute artwork after I saw that one. I took a 7” single, the B-side of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, “Even In His Youth” and put it in my Xerox machine. “Even In His Youth” could be one of my favorite tracks of all time. Out of the Xerox copy I made a silk-screen print in two copies. I also made a zine with a lot of other records, the zine is called “Untitled” (2011), and it really became a fan-zine.
The best video ever was directed by: I’m not that fond of music videos. It can really mess things up, ruin the tracks. But the best scene in a movie though (besides the everyone-shoots-blindly-at-the-jungle scene in Predator (1987)) is the car scene in Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend, a never-ending panorama scene of a car crash. It’s brilliant even though you can see the camera man in some of the car windows.
"Plants"
Secret obsession: Looking up what’s happening with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career, four to seven times a week.
