NextStreet Gallery is so proud to present an art show that captures an integral part of the 90’s: comics, movies, music with their iconic characters. This exhibition highlights the work of Pappasparlor and Alben.

PAPPASPARLOR
Swedish, with long blond hair matched with a long blonde moustache are usually the distinctive factors of Johan Karlgren, who produces art under the name of Pappas Pärlor. Though, what is even more distinctive is his medium of his art, coming in the form of beads to produce figures of popular culture which art then installed in subtle places throughout the world.

Originally studying Art, most of his time was instead spend going to skate instead of going to school he eventually went on to opening a video game store, a skate shop and having a few kids of his own. It was because of his children that he was encouraged to work in art again beginning to create bead art with his children to break gender roles.

Preferring to work on smaller projects, he enjoys creating minimalistic pieces where he only uses a maximum 90 beads and is usually finished in two minutes. Johan’s hometown is adorned with more than 500 figures of his art pieces. A town with some setbacks in the past though he has convinced the people that his art is legal and is now seen in a good light.

ALBEN
Grounded in a postmodern vernacular, Alben’s paintings and sculptures are a pastiche of historical art moments including Pop and Classical art. Interested in street art, the self-taught artist references an array of cultural touchstones in his densely layered, often stencil-sprayed paintings; his allusions include corporate mascots, historical figures, actors, comic book characters, and artists.

Alben's sculpture similarly embraces popular culture, though it is also directly influenced by the work of the French artist Arman, who exhibited commercial objects as sculpture in the 1960s.

Similarly insisting that popular culture and aesthetic production are linked, Alben inverts Arman’s structure by reimagining touchstones of art history such as the Venus de Milo as a configuration of crushed Coke cans.