About the
artist
Whilst his siblings
studied Latin and algebra, Bengt Elde painted. Bengt, the man who loved Swedish
Gustafskorv sausage, soccer, and lyricist Evert Taube. But most of all Bengt loved to
paint. An empty sheet of paper made his fingers itch and his heart pound.
Bengts
schooling was different than most. Whilst his schoolmates were practicing figures,
calligraphy, and drawing from models, he focused on his calling, eager to fill his life
canvas with poetic, fresh, and absurd motifs. To support his dreams, Elde worked at the
local hospital by night, and painted during the day. Many a day one could find him asleep
by his canvas, brush held tightly in one hand.
Today, he is
picture painter Bengt Elde. Not artist, which sound pretentious and
ceremonious. Bengt believes that art should be consumed and likens the experience to
supermarket shopping; One Gustavskorv, ˝ gallon milk, one Elde painting, and a
pound of butter.
Elde has not
restricted his painting to the canvas. One can easily find his work on a tin of herring, a
cast iron frying pan, and even a shovel. The works themselves? They evolved from simple,
whimsical renditions of Swedish life to include his trademark horse, which today, can be
found on virtually every painting.
He paints
like an infant prodigy, said one newspaper critic. More than anything, this is what
defines Bengt Elde
a large, colorful child. To fill an empty canvas with life is
Eldes biggest adventure.
Bengt Elde lives in
Stockholm. When he is not painting, he can
be found playing soccer or taking a swim in the lake. |