Here is a painting I made of a

Click on the image (and on the square which then shows up) to enlargen it!

Here is a painting I made of a "Chagallian" town. It's a university town in Sweden, Uppsala, where there are lots of students - and almost everyone uses a bike...

I call it "Chagallian" because of quite obvious reasons - it's inspired by Marc Chagall's playful, naivistic and dreamlike style.

He used to paint brides and bridegrooms flying over the town (in his case Vitebsk in White Russia) - but in this town the couple of course goes by bike up in the air (!), after the wedding in the Cathedral....

And on the wild Fyris river, a famous Swedish cat without a tail, Pelle Svanslös (who is connected to this town), is traveling on the back of a huge golden/green fish.

And in front of the cat is Carl von Linné, the famous "flower-king", who sorted flowers into a new system - he's celebrated and remembered especially this year (2007), and especially in Uppsala where he lived during a great part of his life.

He arrives here, on the river, right in time to catch the flowers dropped by the bride. Maybe he'll find some new ideas for his flower teachings by studying them...?

The Cathedral is meant to be seen symbolically rather than as a naturalistic image - it's built up by unevenly put "living" stones (not perfect, smooth and even - but by individuals who are very different from each other, and thus complement each other - like the persons in the town). There are no clocks on the Cathedral towers - since the stressed city really could need a free zone without time....

In the tree is a student's cap, perhaps left there since last year's Valborg (a festive celebration on the 30'th of April), and a few branches higher up are two jackdaws (a very typical bird in this town), looking at their relatives and friends flying between the Cathedral towers, between the stars, under the moonlight....

***

Detta är ett "chagalliskt" Uppsala - alltså inspirerat av Marc Chagalls fantasifulla stil.

Han brukade bl.a. måla brudpar och brudbuketter som svävar över staden (i hans fall Vitebsk i Vitryssland) - men i Uppsala cyklar brudparet naturligtvis i luften - vad annars - i en veritabel cykelstad?

Och på Fyrisån (här placerad framför domkyrkan), i den vilda forsränningen, där Pelle Svanslös har valt en stor guldgrön fisk som färdmedel, befinner sig Carl von Linné i täten, på en enkel flotte, och anländer just i tid för att fånga den hägrande brudbuketten... Kanske han kommer på något nytt för sin blomsterlära när han sedan studerar den närmare?

Domkyrkan ska ses symboliskt snarare än som en naturalistisk avbildning - den är byggd av ojämnt hopfogade, levande stenar (inte perfekta, släta, jämna - utan individer, personligheter som är högst olika men som kompletterar varann - liksom människorna i staden). Det finns inga klockor på tornen - för det stressade Uppsala behöver verkligen få en frizon utan tid...

I trädet hänger en studentmössa, kanske kvarglömd efter förra årets Valborg, och några grenar högre upp sitter två kajor och ser på medan deras släktingar och vänner flyger mellan tornspirorna, mellan stjärnorna, under fullmånens sken...