Dracula’s castle – John Andersson

Dracula’s castle, a freehand drawing by John Andersson.

John Andersson sees things. He is flooded by images. No matter how fast he can draw, there is no way he can catch up. John Andersson is the medium for an unstoppable stream of visions of 20th century pop culture against a backdrop of dull suburban architecture from the golden era of Swedish socialism.

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.