Erik Tidemann is a 28-yr-old artist from Trondheim, Norway. His white trash-influenced work ranges from sleazy paintings, to taxidermy-based sculpture; a unique aesthetic reflected in his rapidly expanding tattoo collection. This is just a short interview via email but I’d love to pull together a full-length feature on the up-and-coming Slade graduate in the near future. More work to come.

“I am mostly inspired by subcultures from neo-Nazis, KKK and extreme black metal to black people’s movements, Somalian immigrant gangs and gangster rap. But the redneck white trash hillbilly culture has been the one I have been studying the most. I often mixed  those scenarios with mythic, demonic and often religious imagery. So often the work with its own context show the mythic picture of the undepicted artist as some alter ego of myself. Like I was some weirdo loner living in my mom’s basement never learnt to make art or think in concepts but just being there as some Daniel Johnston dude making his imaginary world.

“My Latest project or the one I am working on now is to make two black Canadian bears standing on two legs. They are gonna have their torsos completely shaved and tattooed while the skin is still soft. Instead of the bear faces I am gonna replace the face area of the head with a human skull on each one. My dentist who is also one of my collectors is helping me out getting the real human skulls and doing the paperwork which is cool of him. In the eyes I will have some sort of light. The two bears are gonna be for this club in Trondheim standing on each side of the DJ table holding it up with their hands. So they look as some sort of guardians up on the stage.

“Except from that I am showing my five headed wolf called ‘Nazi super science’ at Trondheim Art Museum in May and me and the American street sculptor Brad Downey is making a piece this summer together for this outside sculpture park in Norway. We want to make two trees standing in the ground as ground to air missiles so we want to hollow out the inside of the trees and replace them with a rocket fuelled core so they can be shot up in the air. Like the forest is going nuts decaring war or something. In October I have a solo show in Trondheim too.

“Tattoos? Yes. Did a one last Friday under my arm. It was a woman lying on her back with her big tits pointing up and wearing stockings. She cant walk since she has cocks instead of feet like wooden legs but they are flesh. Instead of a cunt she has the SS logo from the Nazis standing for sleazy sluts. Above her head she has green drunken letters saying Øoohboh.

“That was my last one. Except from that one I have most of my neck, troat, right arm, chest and stumack and feet covered. And some bits and bubs elsewere. But I guess I will have a full body suit someday. Its easy since my friends are all tattooists here in Trondheim so we trade back and forward our favours.”

Portraits by Linn Heidi Stokkedal

http://www.myspace.com/eriktidemann