Swedish graffiti writer Nug (of running around a train station like a crazy man fame) will be showing later this month at Unruly Gallery in Amsterdam. I’m a big fan of Nug and the folks at Unruly, so I’m glad to see them getting together.
Nug is one of the most controversial artists in Sweden, with the country’s Minister of Culture being a particularly famous hater. I love these quotes about Nug’s work by current and former Ministers of Culture from around Europe:
- “This isn’t art. This is damage and vandalism.” – Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth (Minister of Culture, Sweden)
- “A Minister of Culture should not decide what is art and what is not. As a happy reminder of this, I have a print of Nug’s Territorial Pissing hanging on my office wall.” – Paavo Arhinmäki (Minister of Culture, Finland)
- “A Minister of Culture is allowed to think a lot of things about about art and culture. That it should tempt people to watch or listen to it. That it should be relevant to society. That it should be critical; encourage change. But beautiful or ugly? Fortunately, that’s not up to the Minister to decide.” – Hedy d’Ancona (former Minister of Culture, Netherlands)
The show opens on April 26th (5-8pm) and will only be up for that weekend. Opening night will also double as the launch of a new book from Nug. Get there early because Nug will be signing 70 copies of his book and the first 10 people to purchase a book will also get a vinyl record of Nug’s soundtrack.
Nug’s book, I am just Trying to be Nice, will be available online here after the launch. Each copy of the book features a unique cover painted by Nug. This video sheds some light on that:
I am just trying to be nice – NUG from John on Vimeo.
Photos courtesy of Unruly Gallery