2019年4月のアーティストは、スウェーデンのヨーテボリを拠点に活動するマチルダ・ピーターズソン。オーガニックな線画を生かした水彩画のスタイルに定評があり、ヒルトンやスカンディックなどのホテルや新聞・雑誌メディアなどに作品を提供。今作では、ホッピーをメインに、海に囲まれていることから魚食が盛んであることなど、スウェーデンと日本の共通点を模索。Mr.ホッピーと擬人化した魚が両国の街を巡り食べ飲み歩く姿を描いてくれました。「ホッピーと同様に、二つの国にも魅力がたっぷり詰まっていることを表現したかった。細部へのこだわりは日本が尊敬されるところだと思うので、細かい線画に力を入れたので楽しんでほしい」と語ってくれました。
The illustration for April was done by Matilda Petersson, an artist based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Her artwork is known for its use of water color that makes use of organic line drawings. She has experience working with hotels such as Hilton and Scandic, newspaper, and magazine media. Matilda explored themes in common with Sweden and Japan and found that eating fish is popular in both countries because they both are surrounded by the sea. She created this month’s art piece with Mr. Hoppy and an anthropomorphic fish eating, drinking and walking around the cities of both countries. She shared her thoughts, saying, “I wanted to do something that reflected me as an artist, but at the same time challenged my old expressions, making a combination of Japanese culture and my own Swedish. I wanted to illustrate our similarities, that are so many even though the distance is so far. I really hope you will find this as a unique way to not only show some details from a city across the world, but also appreciate my own celebration and interpretation of the Japanese culture. I hope you will be curious enough to take the time and find all the details in the artwork and also see something new about my culture.”
