Year: 2020

Collection: The Akashic Records

59x79 cm

Acrylic and Lego on canvas.

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SOLD 2021-05-29

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“Beri maður stafi þessa á sér villist maður ekki í hríðum né vondu veðri þó ókunnugur sá.
Behandla alla människor, djur och natur med respekt.
In med det nya. Ut med det gamla.
Följ ditt kall. Våga lyssna till din äkta röst.
Verkligheten är större än du tror.
Så säger Hrik.”
(Put that in Google Translate and smoke it.)

Vegvisir means “way shower”, or the “road shower”, and it’s the star-like symbol in the middle. The Vegvisir itself shows the direction to the different worlds of existence from Norse mythology, and where Midgård (where humans live) is in the intersecting middle. Then at the top is Asgård (home of the gods, Thor, Odin etc), at the bottom is essentially Hell, and then you have the world of the Giants, the world of the goblins, and so on. The symbol (sometimes called “the viking compass”) is magical and will guide you safely through storms and bad weather on your travels.
On top of the Vegvisir is the wolf Fenrisulven, out of whom the rune script comes, I knew early on that I wanted to do a painting of a runestone, but with my own message on it. And it turned out to almost be a manifesto of sorts. A statement on the world of 2020, and where we should aim and head, especially after the corona crisis. It is not covid-art though, but is more focusing on what will come after, this utopian idea and feeling I have, of a better world. Here’s the English translation of the phonetically written Swedish-to-Runic:
“Treat all humans, animals and nature with respekt.
In with the new. Out with the old.
Follow your calling. Dare to listen to your true voices.
Reality is bigger than you think.
So says Hrik.”

The prophetic rune script comes together at the tree of life, Yggdrasil, with 2 apples in it. As these are my thoughts on the world of tomorrow - and not a look back - I wanted something really ultra contrasting, and decided to add my signature on the right tress, using lego pieces that I glued onto the canvas, and then dripped with neon acrylic paint.
As I do many times in my art there are a lot of “hidden” details to find. This time I challenge you to find the owl, the eyes, and the forest gnome. Also my daughter decided to sign my name on it (thanks, Mia!), so that’s another little hidden bonus.
Vegvisir MMXX is painted on canvas roll, glued on a masonite board, and then glued onto the frame. So the frame is part of Vegvisir MMXX, and that is how it’s sold and shipped.