After perusing Patrik Mollwing's website, I felt like I had just spent a day at an amusement park with the likes of Salvador Dali, Shel Silverstein and Dries Van Noten. Five words I use to describe his illustrations? Drippy, Trippy, Fun and Fluid. And if I could buy two more words? "So Fashion".

You are based in Sweden. What is it like working in your field there? I imagine it to be very conducive to artists and creatives.
Until just recently I’ve mainly worked abroad, so I wouldn't really know actually. But the scene is quite small and centralized to Stockholm. And in similar to other countries of the same size I guess it tends to become quite uniform, lacking the capacity of multiple parallel movements. Despite that – The standards are very high and compete very well on an international level.

I assume you have trained formally and studied the greats. Where did you train for illustration and what artists have influenced your work?
I hold a Bachelor’s in Visual Communication from Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm. Which highly improved my visual and conceptual thinking in a broader sense. Unfortunately I can’t say I have formal drawing training but I try to tell myself that’s a good thing. If you’ve learned how to draw it is hard to unlearn – like reading. (Why anyone would wanna unlearn to read). The most influential artist would probably be the childhood heroes like John Kricfalusi, Ole Lund Kirkegaard, Don Martin. But I think local graffiti was what got me hooked on drawing and later illustration, graphic design etc. I was fortunate to grew up in a city (Umeå, northern Sweden) which had a very thriving graffiti scene during my most influential years. Incredibly talented and creative writers. Many of them inspired me a lot. (Big shout out to Ikaroz aka Daniel Diaz).

I am tickled by your use of contemporary fashion designers as I am a self proclaimed fashion freak. What is your relationship to the fashion world? Are you interested in fashion design?
I am. But like most people I’m also somewhat of an ignorant. I find the fashion scene very inspiring, and I got myself somewhat of a deeper insight during my studies at Beckmans with it’s Fashion department. I’m particularly interested in the styling. The creation of characters. With all these sharp characteristic and extreme attitudes. I don’t know if it’s just me – but some of these representations charge these models with such integrity I wouldn’t dare talking to them - with risk of bursting the illusion. Like actors.

If you had a fashion house, what would you name it?
About 10 years ago my ex girlfriend and I designed and produced two collections under the name Bless This Mess. Which I though was quite clever at the time. But then I moved to Berlin and realized there was this cool brand named Bless. We dropped the name and later the fashion house ambitions :/ Anyhow, today I might go with something epic-sounding like Exodus or some troll nonsense like Lof Vjeeterein. But seriously I think ‘good’ products will make any name ‘good’.

If someone took away all technology from you what would you use or do to make art?
If these primitivism fascists comes to power i’ll quit art for a while and join the resistance. Even though I, like a lot of people these days, find myself romanticizing life without technology from time to time. If we do go all the way back to some very primitive stage, before two dimension painting – I think I would use my voice, making noises and sounds, or make funny faces. A couple of weeks ago I stayed in the Swedish mountains and being there for a while it’s easy to see why people devoted to create formations of stones and rocks. As you see these rocks laying around, and have been laying there forever, you realize that if you move them they will stay like that forever. Or til’ someone decides this is a good spot for a mall.

If someone gave me 5 seconds and 5 words to describe your illustration work I would say: drippy, trippy, fun and fluid ; What would your 5 words be? 5…..4…..3….2….1
Three out of five stars (My oppressive Swedish mentality made me say it).