Cal Henrik Max Magnus Norman (born July 30, 1973) is a Swedish artist, painter, and sculptor.
Norman was born in Sundsvall, Medelpad, he currently resides in Prague.[1][2] He paints visions and dreamlike images[3] as accurately as possible, which results in paintings with a photorealistic quality.[citation needed] His works are intended to spread virally among social networks on the Internet; his art and stunts often deal with everyday events spiced up with a touch of the absurd.
A few examples of such works created for the Internet are the illustrated essay "The LED (minor) Artcrime Tutorial" and the Moose graffiti stunt, where the artist sneaks up on a wild moose and paints graffiti on it. His sculpture and plastic arts projects have received some exposure in Sweden, such as his art project that consisted of a woodpecker placed on a traffic camera on the E4 near Stockvik.[4] In another of Max Magnus Norman's art projects the artist created an unknown (but huge) number of plastic monkeys, about 1 metres in length. One night in early May 2009 he put up these monkeys in different settings all over the small city Sundsvall. One monkey was riding a crocodile in the middle of the central stream Selångersån and one was placed upon a traffic light making it look like the monkey controlled the traffic, some monkeys were even placed under water. A few of these monkeys still remain, amongst other one flying 20 metres up in the air, holding a beer can above the intersection Köpmangatan-Thulegatan.[5][6]
In 2008, a statue of his, "Kuken ska ha sitt,"[7] which includes a 30 cm. long penis, caused some local outcry which was noticed by the Swedish press: the "obscene sculpture" drew notice and commentary from the two largest Swedish papers, Aftonbladet[8] and Expressen.[9] As it happened, Norman's sculpture coincided with a few other "phallic" Swedish works of art that year, including a full-frontal nude Jesus;[10] the fact that Norman's sculpture was provided with a warning for the young[11] enhanced its reputation, as well as that of the artist.[12][13][14]
Alchemy
editIn 2014 Max Magnus Norman published the book Magnum Opus Part 1 (2014, ISBN 91-7517-609-2) where he claims he unsought managed to create the philosopher's stone. The book, written in Swedish, is built up as a manual on how to reach spiritual and physical enlightenment, thought it only covers a few physical and meditative exercises, layered with self biographical anecdotes. [15]
References
edit- ^ Holmlund, Susanne (2006-11-03). "Sundsvallskonstnärer gör affischer" (in Swedish). Sundsvalls Tidning. Retrieved 2009-01-30.[dead link]
- ^ Fredriksson, Johanna (2007-08-04). "Kulturfakta om Sundsvall" (in Swedish). Sundsvalls Tidning. Retrieved 2009-01-30.[dead link]
- ^ Holmlund, Susanne (2008-07-01). "Modernt och historiskt möts i Röklandsgården" (in Swedish). Sundsvalls Tidning. Archived from the original on July 2, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ Östberg, Anita (2007-09-25). "Hacke hackspett - i stället för rondellhund" (in Swedish). Sundsvalls Tidning. Retrieved 2009-01-30.[dead link]
- ^ Hallberg, Lasse (2009-05-08). "Sundsvall apar sig" (in Swedish). Sundsvalls Tidning. Archived from the original on 2009-05-13. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
- ^ "Street Art Monkeys". Max Magnus Norman. 2008-04-12. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
- ^ "Kuken ska ha sitt". Max Magnus Norman. 2008-04-12. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
- ^ "Varnar barn för obscen skulptur" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. 2008-07-09. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ Lundström, Louise. "Barn varnas för skulpturen 'Kuken'" (in Swedish). Expressen. Archived from the original on 2008-07-31. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
- ^ Persson, Henrik. "Fallosen får länet på fall" (in Swedish). Allehanda. Archived from the original on 2013-04-18. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
- ^ Kjellberg, Niklas (2008-07-10). "Hans utställning har väckt starka reaktioner" (in Swedish). Dagbladet i Sundsvall. Archived from the original on 2013-04-18. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ Nilsson, Fredrik (2008-07-09). "Kuken fick sitt på Norra berget" (in Swedish). Sundsvalls Tidning. Archived from the original on 2008-08-02. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ Brånfelt, Björn (2008-08-22). "Brånis presenterar: Innelistan i Medelpad - sommar-special" (in Swedish). Dagbladet i Sundsvall. Archived from the original on 2008-09-22. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ Kjellberg, Niklas (2008-07-30). "Hallå där" (in Swedish). Dagbladet i Sundsvall. Archived from the original on 2008-08-04. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ Holmlund, Susanne (2014-07-12). "Max Magnus skriver bok om sin inre process" (in Swedish). Sundsvalls Tidning. Retrieved 2015-01-12.