Creative talk 

Amanda Åkerman 

Illustrator from Gothenburg educated at HDK-Valand, Gothenburg and Camberwell College of Arts, London. By capturing snapshots from everyday life, a quiet, nuanced and simple world of images is created. Amanda has a sense for food, patterns, textiles, cities, portraits, architecture, building small worlds in the form of picture series and working with storytelling and image together. Describes herself as distracted, kind and sensitive. Meet her here.

Now I'll just try to fulfill my New Year's promise; to become super duper good at opening oysters!

Amanda, How are you?
I'm fine thanks!

Finally we're in 2022, crazy, how was your 2021?
The year offered both high and low - low mostly because you know what. Better things were for example fun jobs and collaborations, and that I moved to a new apartment where I feel great. Now I'll just try to fulfill my New Year's promise; to become super duper good at opening oysters!

Tell us about your art!
I freelance as an illustrator and have studied design at HDK-Valand in Gothenburg, where I am based, and illustration at Camberwell College of Arts in London. Has a penchant for food, patterns, textiles, cities, portraits, architecture, building small worlds in the form of image series and working with storytelling and image together. Since the beginning of 2021, I am part of the illustration collective Fina Linjen.

Why do you think you ended up here?
Actually, the trip here is a pretty random one. Someone (maybe an ex-boyfriend) was going to apply to a preparatory art school, and I followed. You get to know people along the way who inspire and influence you in different ways. My interest in painting was aroused by a wonderful art teacher I went to when I was little. She thought we could paint pictures from the art books to learn different techniques, so I learned to paint by trying to copy Edward Hopper and Modigliani.

What is most important to you in your creative process?
Research and preparation are important, I realize every time I try to skip it, but I have to actively work to see that part as "real" work. The way the world works today, it's easy to feel useless when you do not produce things exactly all the time. More time to sit and figure out for everyone, I think!

What is your biggest source of inspiration, do you have a role model?
Hard to choose, it comes from many different places. My favorite artists are Cy Twombly and Alex Katz, and I love Japanese woodcuts. A good mix is best! I find inspiration for my art mainly around me, I constantly take photos to collect reference pictures, but also in books and films.

Describe yourself in 3 words!
Thoughtful, kind, sensitive.

What can you absolutely not find in your candy bag?
Licorice.

This is what I dance to ...
Right now; "Last Days of Disco" by Saint Etienne.

I prefer to travel to ...
London.

This is driving me crazy ...
That I'm so bad at being on time. Always on the go!

This makes me overjoyed ...
To swim in the sea.

In five years you will find me ...
In my own studio instead of at my desk at home.

Has your art always had the same expression or has it changed over the years?
My expression has become much more uniform since I graduated and started working, but I have probably returned to the same things for a long time; an unsaturated color scheme, contrasts and a serenity and simplicity in the motifs. As I write this, I keep in mind that my persistent copying of Edward Hopper as a ten-year-old may have actually shaped me more than I previously realized, haha.

What do you dream about?
That I will be able to celebrate my upcoming birthday at a restaurant in Copenhagen as planned!