Photographer is artist-in-residence at Cold Spring cafe
Two years ago, photographer Urban Karlsson ordered heavy paper from Amazon. Instead, in a snafu, he received sheets of canvas typically used by painters.
Rather than return the order, the Philipstown resident experimented with it, discovering that printing photos on the thick cotton surface added an ethereal edge to his preferred subjects: flowers, landscapes, street scenes and root vegetables.
Named for Pope Urban V, who died in 1370, Karlsson is a native of Sweden who wears an ABBA pendant around his neck. He is the artist-in-residence at Cozy Corner Cafe in Cold Spring (formerly Hudson Hil’s), where an exhibit of his work, Summer Happiness, is on display. He also has a pop-up store at 137 Main St. through July 31.
Inspired by Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, Karlsson plans to rotate his exhibit at Cozy Corner every three months. To celebrate summer, the flower motif is flowing.
“Being a creative person means that I’ve never been bored in my life,” he says. “I’m always making something or exploring an inspiring thought.”
The artist, who is 60 and lives across Main Street from the restaurant, got the gig by strolling into the newly opened cafe and presenting his portfolio to co-owner Jessika Martinez, who has an interior design degree. Martinez selected photos that she said enhanced the space’s feng shui.
Before hanging the photos, she painted the beige walls in powder blue and white. “I was looking for happy colors and a calm vibe,” she says.
At the cafe, real flowers are positioned on each table and in boxes on the porch. Rose petals infuse the lemonade. To gussy up the waiting area outside a bathroom, Martinez placed a flowery wreath between two eye-high posters depicting wildflowers.
Karlsson’s photos of yellow roses, blue hydrangea and poppies on a wall inside the restaurant entrance look like they’re made of porcelain. On the left is an array of purple flowers with green backgrounds.
He shoots with his iPhone 13. “I want to be able to take advantage of the moment, and I don’t like dialing in any settings,” he says.
The cafe photos were conveyed to canvas with an inkjet printer and appear to have been manipulated with drawing or brush strokes to create a hazy texture.
Also untouched are the pictures of Storm King and a plum tomato carved with imperfections, which hang in the smaller, darker dining room. Karlsson’s take on a pile of carrots resembles imperfect candles with wicks or sticks of dynamite with fuses.
He did, however, dab paint over a blurry composite of images depicting fruits and vegetables jammed close together in bright green pint containers. His addition of white light sometimes makes it difficult for people to determine the subject, he says.
The one shot on long-term display depicts the cozy cafe and its corner at night surrounded by streaks of light. He calls it the “Miracle on Main Street.”
Karlsson also crafted canvas shades for the tabletop lamps, to which he added strips of decorative burlap lace.
A veteran of the fashion industry, he worked for a Swedish clothing company and moved to Garrison part-time in 2001 before relocating to Cold Spring last year. His studio is called Urban Karlsson Living, or U.K.L., and he works with photos, oil paint, mixed media — and food. His website cookingwithurban.com has recipes.
His business card, a compact and foldable canvas square cut from a defective or poorly printed work, would make a colorful placemat in a child’s tea set.
After Amazon’s mistake with the paper order, Karlsson leaned into the happy accident. “Things come to me that I may not have been looking for,” he says. “But I stay open to them because it’s probably meant to be.”
