Freddie Wadling was a popular artist and legend on the Swedish music scene, known for a distinctive voice that touched many.
Over the years he participated in a number of different bands such as Cortex, Blue for two and Fläskquartetten.
But apart from music, art was always included in both his music making and everyday life as he drew, painted and sketched everything that was close at hand.
Now his work appears in the book “Wadling- My Head is a Crowded Room”.
– It was as if nothing really came out, but it was the private Freddie who did this. The drawings ended up in piles and then in moving boxes, says childhood friend and photographer Lars Sundestrand.
Destroyed by fire
In 2014, Freddie Wadling and his wife Bella’s house in Gothenburg burned to the ground and a large part of the art was lost.
Thousands of works, stretching back as far as the late 70s, could then be found in the garage of the house. Lars Sundestrand was one of those who had to manage what could be saved.
– Everything that Freddie touched with a pen or brush, we screened that out. It ended up being a big exhibition at the City Museum in Gothenburg. It was the first time some of Freddie’s art was shown in that way and my book is a continuation of that.
“It’s his language”
In the book, Lars Sundestrand has also collected his own photographs from the time together with Freddie and voices from several people who were in some way inspired or influenced by his art.
Among them is the artist Robert Hurula, who also works with art alongside music.
– If you make a lot of pictures or play music, you may be doing it because you find it difficult to communicate in other ways. So maybe that’s why it feels like you’re getting into someone’s head like this, because it’s like his language.