Lately I’ve been binge watching Tales from the Loop on Amazon Prime. If you enjoy science fiction dystopias, or anything surreal, this is a series that isn’t to be missed. But I’m even more fascinated by it because it’s based on the art of Simon Stålenhag.
Stålenhag is a concept artist that I had never heard of until this show. His work combines natural landscapes from his native Sweden, along with robotic equipment and architecture that looks like it has been neglected and is very old. And yet the humans who populate the landscape seem contemporary. So you get this sense that there was a technological age, but it is in the past, and people no longer have an understanding of the junkyard that they wander through. They take these things for granted, even though they don’t seem to know the back stories. It’s as if they’ve resigned themselves to their ignorance or have given up on their own curiosity.
This art tells such a fascinating story that it practically cried out to be made into a television series. I’m glad it came to fruition. If you choose to explore this world, be sure and check your knowledge of physics and your ideas about reality at the door.
Take a deep dive into Simon Stålenhag’s art here.
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