Big Ben Boing Music – John Andersson

As soon as I think of something new, I’ve forgotten everything that was before. /Clark Kent in Diabolik #3 (2009)

Big Ben Boing Music, a freehand drawing by John Andersson from 2011. Printed in Matrijaršija in October 2019 for John’s upcoming exhibition at Novo Doba festival in Belgrade that year.

John Andersson is an underdog, a grand old man, a legend, a curiosity, a distinguished visionary on the Swedish comics scene since the early 80’s. His style is unmistakable and inimitable, still true to classical rules of comic book storytelling. It’s familiar and strange, unacceptable but alluring. He outlived the noisy, dystopian, dark humoured underground of the 80’s and the strong wave of political, autobiographical, funny comics that has dominated the Swedish scene since. His surrealist visions have a lasting quality, they build up a personal universe with more and more detail over time. John Andersson‘s wonderland is a place where the constant reader returns for more of the same magic. Characters, creatures, buildings, monuments, objects reappear and remix until you feel at ease moving through the scenes like an extra on the set of his motion picture.

If you wish to step into John Andersson’s world, we highly recommend the documentary from 2015 by Love Jonasson.