April Present

When I started making ‘painting presents’ for the CBF folks, I thought it would be nice for people to have something related to their work that they could hang in their office.  Lots of researchers don’t have art in their office.  It is pretty nerdy to have research-art, but also kind of personalized and that should make up for the non-professional artiness.

Gears and extruded steel bars at Ovaku.

This picture is for Hasse.  He is doing his PhD thesis at the Ovako steel company at the nearby hofors bruk.  There they make different kinds of steel machinery. His work will centre on the organizational climate in terms of health and safety, communication between workers and employers, and the health promotion aspect of work injuries.  It is a really cool project, but a pretty hard one to depict with art.  If his work is about ‘changing people’s mind, how do you show that?

Instead I went for a literal (if stylized) depiction of the work done at a steel mill: brand new red hot steel parts.  I would have liked for the background to be darker, but the pencils don’t work quite like the acrylic I am used to.  Happy Birthday Hasse!