Mindanao Advice

My wife, Grace, and I have plans to launch an online gallery called GaffGaff Galleri: Digitalpoetism & Beyond.

We’ve chosen an absinthe bottle as our trademark. Absinthe has long been associated with bohemians, artists, dreamers, and those who dare to look beneath the surface, much like art itself.

The absinthe bottle reflects what we hope will resonate through the images in our gallery:

Colorful madness and dreamy poetry, intoxication inspired by Charles Baudelaire, and moments of clarity… It captures the dual nature of art, representing both the artist’s struggle and ecstasy, and inviting the viewer to interpret and feel.

My cousin, the painter Ulf M, is a fantastic source of inspiration with the madness in his vibrant paintings.

I actively use technology as part of my process. It feels like dancing a new kind of dance with a digital partner, creating something I find beautiful, fun, and stylish.

I combined the words ‘digital’ and ‘poetism’ into a non-existent one word in an effort to capture the essence of what I’m exploring – the landscape between kitsch and art. Whether it’s considered art or not doesn’t matter to me. What matters is whether I can spark wonder, joy, and inspiration in others.

My primary tool is an old smartphone. When I see something interesting, I snap a photo. If I get an idea, I reach out to my friends in the cloud to see if they think it’s any good. If it is, I upload the material and explain what I want. The mobile phone has become my paintbrush.

Digitalpoetism is a visual language that emerges from a creative dialogue between humans and machines. I use it to explore my artistic instincts. My wife, Grace, has already showcased some of my early images. You can see them here.

Almost 20 years ago, I created a pilot intended for Chinese television, where Ulf M appears as one of the participants. There’s a voiceover in Mandarin, but most of the film is in English, with a short appearance of Nils Gaup at the beginning. Watching it offers a glimpse into the madness and creative joy that runs in our family. You’ll find the video at the end of this article, and it won’t take long before you’re immersed in an art universe unlike anything you’ve seen before, until GaffGaff Galleri officially opens its digital doors.

The gallery is a project of Einarson Media Production, registered in Stamsund, where Ulf M is also based. Once you’ve watched the 7-minute film clip below, the reason for this will be obvious.

The name GaffGaff is inspired by the English word gaff, which can mean both “show” and “fishing rod.”

Disclaimer:
Every image in the GaffGaff universe is the result of a creative exchange between me and artificial intelligence. I use an old smartphone and a spark of an idea to collaborate with digital tools, shaping visual expressions I find beautiful, amusing, or thought-provoking.

These are not copies of existing works, but original compositions created through text prompts and experimentation. I call it Digitalpoetism, a visual language that explores the frontier between human emotion and machine creativity.

My project does not imitate, it plays. It does not quote; it creates. For me, the point is not whether it qualifies as “art,” but whether it stirs something in the person who looks.

All artworks © GaffGaff Galleri. Protected by copyright. Please do not copy or reuse without permission.