On an eternal holiday with Chun Lee Wang Gurt

Every summer since we founded our architectural practice in 1998, we have produced a T-shirt in collaboration with an artist we like. It’s our way of emphasising the natural place of art in our living environments – and wishing our partners a great summer.

The design for this year’s T-shirt was created by Chun Lee Wang Gurt – an artist, painter and sculptor, based in a row house in Huddinge. Here, in a garage converted into a studio, she works with both easel paintings and large-scale installations. She is currently working on sculpture commissions in both Stockholm and Gothenburg.

FROM CHINA TO THE WORLD
Chun Lee Wang Gurt was born in 1957 in Jinan, a city of nine million people in Shandong Province, China. Even as a child, she longed to go out into the world, and the way to get there was through art. After studying at the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts, she became the first Chinese student at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. After a few years in Sweden and travelling around the Nordic countries and Europe, she felt done with this part of the world and went on to the Pratt Institute in New York, where she immediately felt at home.

– But life is what it is. It’s not a work of art that you can decide for yourself and that’s amazing,” she says.

In the US, Chun Lee met the love of her life, the writer Stefan Gurt, and together they eventually travelled back to Stockholm for a short holiday.

– That holiday is still going on, she says.

THE MAGIC OF LIFE
To be sure, the life of an artist has not always been restful. But like a much-needed
holiday, art can offer an escape – and a chance to see and appreciate the magic in life.

– Everyday life is full of such things, and that’s what I like to paint,” she says and continues:

– “I am only a small part of the world, but every person’s life is special. I tell about my part, what feels meaningful in my everyday life, and maybe through that I can inspire someone else.

ARKITEKTEN I MOLNET
She describes the design for this year’s T-shirt as a contrast-rich tribute to the architect’s creativity. She has played with perspective and created a symbol for the need to think outside the box.

– The architect sits in the cloud and holds the space in his hand. It’s about challenging its three-dimensional boundaries. I also wanted to create a motif that is really visible. Neon and colour are everywhere in summer. Nothing beats black and white!

T-shirt Motif black and white art — Chun Lee Wang Gurt 2025

Publicerad: 18 July, 2025