Mateas Pares: Could you tell us a little bit about the background of the painting?
Björn Kjelltoft: I often use words in my images and ”kuk” (Swedish for ”cock”, ed. note) has its own unique place in the Swedish language fauna. It is somehow the king of doodles and with my painting, I wanted to elevate it into the world of fine arts. When it was finished ”kuk” almost resembled a logotype and I started thinking about how it would work as a brand.
"Kuk" by Björn Kjelltoft, 2022
It reminds me of toilet doodles in particular. ”Kuk” might be the most common word that people doodle in public places in Sweden.
Yes, it is pretty, and wonderfully concise and the way it sounds has a comical ring to it....
I agree, ”kuk” has innocence to it; it’s a bit mischievous. If you were to doodle ”fitta” (”cunt” in Swedish, ed. note), it wouldn't be the same feeling at all. ”Fitta” feels much more aggressive, and sentences that are doodled with negative and hostile messages, usually contain ”fitta”, rather than ”kuk”. Why do you think that is?
I don’t know but both words work well as Swedish swear words so in that sense they are kind of equal.
Björn Kjelltoft
When you posted an image of the work on social media, you wrote: ”KUK, a typeface for people with wonderful problems”. What kind of problems are you thinking about?
Did I say that? Well, lovely problems are the kind of problems that comes with good looks.
I’m trying to problematize the cock but I get the impression that you’re not that interested in doing that. Do you think people should relax more when it comes to the cock?
Yes, our approach might differ a bit. It is a complicated question and I really don’t know a simple answer. I just hope my contribution comes across as positively as possible.
Explore all artists and artworks from the exhibition COCKS!
Text and interview by Mateas Pares
