Interview by Art Elite with the artist Daniel Hasselmyr in June 2008

© Art Elite 2008

AU: Can you tell me what it was like for you growing up?
DH: In the fifties I lived with my parents in a quiet village in the middle of Sweden. My father was a vicar. When I was only 5 we moved to Caracas in Venezuela. I moved from an old-fashioned backwards village to a South American capital steaming with life.

AU: How life abroad affected your artistic development?
DH: Well my strong impression of South America as a child woke me up to the visual side of life. Everything was moving and active, colourful and loud. It was urban and modern. It made Sweden look like a developing country. Here there were supermarkets, Cinerama, parrots, monkeys, carnivals, processions, piñatas, lunatics, bowling alleys, Sears and huge loud American cars. I loved it! I even lived through 2 revolutions.

AU: Did you attend an art school or university?
DH: No, but I did get inspired by the great painters early. I had and still have many artist friends that inspire me, but my real school was, and is, my over 40 years of experiments and development of my relation to watercolour and the world around me.

AU: Did your parents encourage you to become an artist?
DH: Oh Yes! One of my very earliest memories is from when I was 4 years old, and watching my uncle painting. He created things from nowhere! I was astounded. I was spellbound. Pure magic! Then when I was 15 and “took up the brush” I painstakingly painted pop art nudes. My parents were delighted. After that, they supported me for the rest of their lives.

AU: Did you have professors that you would say had some influence on you?
DH: While I had many friends who applied for, and were accepted by art academies, I felt strongly at that point that I needed to walk my own path. I knew deep within that I had something that I was afraid of losing, during years of art academic training. So I never applied.
In retrospect, I think I did the right thing for me, as I am now doing something that is totally out of any tradition. Something that I feel is very exciting and evolutionary. And very me.

AU: How did you approach starting a career as an artist?
DH: I really have been drawn to it since I was a kid. There has never been anything else that I wanted to do as a career. My first exhibition was in Stockholm 1978. I sold some Art Deco inspired motives and also got a commission for a wall painting. Since then I have had loads of exhibitions. Many years since then have I been living from my art. Now I feel in better shape than ever. So I am always looking forward to see what other amazing creations are yet to come out of me. I expect continuous development.

AU: Which galleries are currently representing you?
DH: I’ve just started working with iStorm modern in Exeter, England. They have mainly been dealing with the BritArt artists.
In Sweden Galleri Skansen are selling my art. In Helsinki, Finland, Gallery Silver Brush represents me. In Lisbon, Portugal I am going to have an exhibition 2009 in Galleria Chiado Arte. I am also accepted by the jury at the International Watercolour Biennial “Baltic Bridges” in Kaunas, Lithuania – where I will show 2 paintings in July and August.

AU: Are you living solely from the sales of your artwork?
DH: I have been painting for 40 years. Many years, maybe 10-15 years, I have been earning my income through art. I was also teaching watercolour classes in the 80s. Apart from that, I have enjoyed working as a sound and light designer at 2 theatres. I also designed and constructed streams, waterfalls and lakes for some rich clients. My artistic “feel” can be used in many ways. It’s a certain sensitivity I think. I mean, cooking is really like painting, isn’t it?

AU: Why did you decide to settle in Portugal?
DH: I immediately felt at home with the architecture, sun and smells. I think Portugal has a lot in common with South America in the fifties. The fact that I speak Latin American Spanish made it very easy for me to learn Portuguese. It makes all the difference if you know the native language. What I really like is the laid back tempo of life. Everything isn’t as boxed in and regulated as it is in Sweden. I get a bit claustrophobic in Sweden. In Portugal there is more freedom. It’s a “land of opportunities”. You can live your life totally as you want to.

AU: Please tell us about your studio.
DH: In England, where I have lived for the past year, my studio is situated on the side of a hill. Through my studio window, I can see several miles of green agricultural landscape. It’s so beautiful! The light is great. As it is in the countryside, it is also very peaceful. Often I sit and watch the birds of prey glide around. I do envy their flying skills.

AU: Which countries have you exhibited in?
DH: Please see about the galleries above.

AU: What inspires you?
DH: Wow, that question really demands a good answer! Well. I have mentioned the early impressions of Caracas and the fantastic view from my studio. On a daily basis it’s also the things my eyes find interesting and graphical. I seem to be painting a lot of quite unusual motives. The reason for that is that I am intrigued by an inner organic quality that everything seems to have to me - even man made things. There is no difference for me. Everything has an intriguing beautiful quality, as it is natural. A house is as natural as a coral reef; there is a common denominator from a graphical point of view. I can’t put my finger on it in words, but I feel I do it in my paintings. There are patterns and structures that are very similar.
But maybe the most important inspirational factor is the feedback from the watercolour paint itself. Its sensual qualities have a never-ending fascination for me. The paint and I interact to create the results. I am passionate about that process!
Music, with its non-intellectual quality, always has a catalysing effect to release me from any distractions.
I need to be at one with the paint and the painting to be able to create something of quality. I also need that process to stay unrestricted by the traditional watercolour routines. I paint in the NOW. Time stands still. The paint and I are the only thing that exist. Anything can come out from an attitude like that. It’s different from time to time.
Thank you!