Kurbits – a dialect of art

All art, illustration, photography and design look different depending on the influences you have and where you live. Just like your language dialect tends to develop from where you are and the people around you.

Kenneth Olzon resides in Holmsveden, which is a small village in the south part of Sweden with precisely 92 inhabitants. Besides of being a Kurbits painter for over 30 years, he’s also the creator of T-post issue 124 – The Dialect Of Art.

The Kurbits is an invented, fantastical symbol of vegetal fertility based on a gourd or pumpkin principally used for ornamentation in Swedish folk art and on painted furniture and domestic objects. Very popular between 1720 and 1870, particularly in Dalarna and southern part of the northern part of Sweden. They were done by painters, mainly from Dalarna, who specialized in the style and whose signatures are often to be found on many of their creations. So, be it a Stool, Wooden spoon or your Harley, Kenneth is excepting whatever you want to get garnished and can bring to his yard studio.

I think Kurbits is one of the most interesting and beautiful art forms out there today and one of the few art styles that are mainly exercised in one area of the world and often handed down from generation to generation. It’s a perfect example of how art forms and styles can mutate in to something new all depending on where it’s exercised and who and what you are surrounded by while doing it, much like our own language. Everything effects you whether you like it or not.

Let’s show Kenneth the love he deserves by following his Facebook page (78 followers and counting) or visit his site. He truly is an amazing artist.