Artist Self Portrait.
All Images used by permission of Erik Johansson and are Copyright http://alltelleringet.com/
Erik Johansson’s photographs reminded me very much of one of my favorite Children’s book illustrators Chris Van Allsburg ,visually exciting and surrealistic.
Erik grew up in a small town in Sweden and became interested in photography at age 15. It would be several years of trial and error before he was comfortable with his work to consider it a career.
He has a master’s degree in Interactive design but is a self-taught photographer and retoucher.
Erik feels that it is easier to create the perfect location than to find it never having to compromise the ideas in his head. Each project begins with an idea and an illustration which is realized from there.
As well as photography Erik has done a series of Illusions on a large scale. For more information and videos http://alltelleringet.com/
When you visualize a project, what is the time frame generally from thought to finished image?
For personal projects it can be anything from a week to several years. But usually about a month from shooting to finished image.
For commissioned projects it’s often a shorter time frame, sometime just a few days and sometimes a few weeks.
What is the product in “Eight Heaven, France”?
It’s an exclusive love toy by http://www.exquisedesign.com/
What promoted you to start the illusion project, and what kind of outside support does a project like that require?
I’ve seen a lot of chalk drawings that does basically the same. So I had an idea of doing something similar but try making it look even more realistic and bigger using photographs instead of drawing on the ground. It was my idea and I choose the location but it was sponsored by Microsoft in a project called Generation 7 where 7 young talents could do their dream project. It was a lot of fun and I hope to be doing something similar in the future.
I saw the list of Artist who inspire you, who are some of your favorite photographers? Or are you even inspired by other photographers?
Well, not really by any photographer in particular that I can think of right now. But photographs in general can be very inspiring. But the inspiration can be from anything from a simple photograph to a complex manipulation.
When will you be selling signed prints?
Hopefully later this year, still haven’t decided editions and paper. I’ve been busy working lately but I hope to start with this soon.
