Welcome to Wet Paint in the Wild, the freewheeling—and free!—spinoff of Artnet News Pro’s beloved Wet Paint gossip column, where we give art-world insiders a disposable camera to chronicle their lives on the circuit. To read the latest Wet Paint column, click here (members only).

Hello again, friends and fellow Wet Paint readers, Jeanette Hayes here. Remember when I did a Wet Paint in the Wild last year from Paris? Well… for my latest escapade I embarked on a second disposable camera romp, snapping away for another edition of Wet Paint in the Wild. This time, our adventures bring us to Sweden! Through a program called Konstväxlingar, I was commissioned by the Swedish government to create work to be displayed in a Stockholm subway station.

Here I am sandwiched between the fab curators for this project, Ulrika Lublin and Alida Ivanov.

I made 20 collages that will be displayed on two platforms at the Gärdet subway station in Stockholm, for one year. They’re all about waiting for the train, and waiting in general!

Here is Ulrika introducing me to the people who came to see the “unveiling” of the work. It was in Swedish but I got the gist!

That same day, across town, I also had an opening at the Steinsland Berliner gallery. I showed the first tapestry work I’ve ever made, alongside some drawings. It’s funny to use a disposable camera and just have my finger in every photo but dems the beans!

New friends brought me some very great presents: some seeds to plant, some magazines, and even some candy! I love sweets—I love Swedes.

After the subway station unveiling and then my opening at Steinsland Berliner, it was finally time for our celebration dinner at Riche. Here I am with the wonderful women who run the Steinsland Berliner Gallery, Ophelia Rolf, Alexandra Campbell and Jeanette Steinsland. And on the right is Alida! 

In the main room at Riche I projected a video that I created for the occasion. On the walls I displayed some small prints that I recently made at Shoestring Press in Brooklyn. (One print was stolen right off the wall! Annie, if you’re reading this part, maybe it’s time we do a story about all of the art I’ve had stolen this year!?!?!)

Everyone all around the world loves espresso martinis!

It was a great day. Big thank you to Alida and Ulrika

Also thank you to Jeanette Steinsland and the women at Steinsland Berliner 

And to Riche 🙂 

The following days in Sweden were a blur, so in no particular order I will show you some fun things I saw. Starting with this marzipan frog. Yea, I ate it!!!!

I ate this thing too! It was Friday the 13th, I had to do something weird for the occasion!

My fabulous friend Allyson Shiffman asked to interview me about my new work for Scandinavian Vogue. She suggested we go to dinner at Brutalisten (all brutalist cuisine), a concept restaurant by artist Carsten Holler. So that we did, and what a treat it was.

One night I found myself at what seemed to be the Swedish china chalet. (It’s where Alida works….. SKF/Konstnärshuset)

On the door it says “art is long – life is short” in Latin. I like that

I learned that Swedish people are obsessed with licorice- it’s everywhere.

Borna told me to hang out with his friend who lives in Sweden. His name is Jeff Dundas; this is him. Borna was right, he’s great. 

My dear sweet friend Arvida Byström invited me to be her date to the Nuda Magazine dinner. It was beautiful and fun, everyone was hot and cool. In this photo, it’s Arvida on the left and Hedda Matilda Stiernstedt on the right. More photos from that night:

Suddenly, I am a huge fan of Nuda Magazine.

My friends Victor and Ally have a great bar called Chewie’s (Chewie is their dog). I went to visit them one evening and we had a very festive night. Victor’s mom, Eva Livijn-Olin, is the reason I first came to Sweden to exhibit work in 2016. Sad I couldn’t see her this trip but I will on the next one!

Sara Vide’s work at Bonniers Konsthall blew me away. She is my favorite painter now.

Marie Karlberg in the flesh! Marie is currently a student at the Moderna Museet school and when I went to visit the museum, I was able to see her. Is this picture from some random/extraordinary NYC party in 2012 or Stockholm’s Modern art museum in 2023—who is to say!

Rashid Johnson. Yeah, obviously we all love it!

On the last night of my trip Avrida accompanied me to the Gärdet subway station to see my work one last time before I left. So sweet and such a perfect send-off <3 

Until next time, Stockholm!

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