Lately I’ve been listening to mashups a lot. To me there is one undisputed ruler in this kingdom, DJ Earworm. Go listen.
People’s first reaction to the concept of mashups is usually skeptical, “these guys aren’t creating anything, they’re just leaching on other people’s talents”, or “it’s just glorified DJ:ing”. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Two of my favorite artists are Swedish, Dan Wolgers and Ernst Billgren. Dan Wolgers early in his career created an object that I love. Unfortunately I can’t find any pictures of it on the net. It’s a wooden model church that he found in a second-hand shop. To the ceiling he attached to long pieces of black material, really simply, they just hang off the sides. This simple act transforms the church into something completely different and takes your mind in a totally different direction. The church now looks much more like Goofy (the Disney character) than a building.
Dan Wolgers saw something that I would never have and he pointed it out to me in a way that is extremely sophisticated in its simplicity. The same goes for Ernst Billgren. When he puts those ducks in the living room he transforms the room and my idea about and messes with my head in a way that makes me feel very good. Enough has been written about his work, so I‘ll leave that for you to research.
But Ernst Billgren also happens to be an excellent painter, he supports his ideas by skilled technique. That adds another dimension, when I look at his work, I can switch between looking at the idea and the way has given it a gestalt, and they augment each other strongly.
The same goes for DJ Earworm. He hears something that I would never hear, how two songs picked out of the blue can be intertwined and how they suddenly complement each other, to form something that is bigger than the sum of the parts. To that he adds tons of musicality and excellent mixing skills.
To me that is art in the truest sense of the word. That it makes me smile constantly while listening doesn’t hurt either.