About
Emanuel Ringborg Mankert is a swedish pop artist based in Stockholm. He comes from the advertising world and brings the hard-hitting directness that an ad image must have into his painting. His visual expression was shaped within the graffiti scene of 1990s Gothenburg, where he is still known in some circles under the name Biz.
Ringborg Mankert flirts with both classic comic books and pop culture – drawing on what is visually exaggerated and emotionally charged. With images full of colour, energy and rhythm, he creates works that feel humorous, nostalgic – and decidedly contemporary.
Energy Burst
Inspiration
Visually, my work stands on the shoulders of several strong influences. Keith Haring’s lines and his ability to make entire spaces vibrate with simple figures have been important to me. Andy Warhol’s way of turning repetition and everyday icons into something both cool and strange is another anchor. The bold colours and exuberant, almost unruly forms of Niki de Saint Phalle are another key reference, especially her fearless approach to joy, bodies and excess. From graffiti I have absorbed a sense of rhythm, movement and the urge to claim space with colour.
I am also influenced by the whimsical, dramatic style and retro-modern look of comic artist André Franquin — a visual world I’ve carried with me since childhood. Japanese manga and anime, especially classics like Astro Boy, have taught me about expressive eyes, iconic silhouettes and how to mix innocence with high energy. All of this blends into a visual language that is both familiar and slightly off, like remembering a Saturday morning cartoon from childhood but not quite knowing if it ever actually existed.
I am entirely self-taught. My style comes from years of drawing, painting and studying images in the wild: comics, illustrations, graffiti and advertising.
By obsessively copying, remixing and inventing my own versions of these visual worlds, I’ve slowly built the style I work in today – a mix of comic-book drama, street energy and the clear, direct punch of an ad.
Exhibition: A Day in the Life of Robots
In the exhibition A Day in the Life of Robots we meet robots in a cranked-up world filled with colours, onomatopoeic words and surges of emotion.
Each image is like a comic-book panel where the robots express some form of pure, unfiltered feeling – it might be joy, shock, surprise, or simply a bit of laid-back relaxation. Something many of us might benefit from allowing ourselves to feel more of, in an everyday life where we are flooded with impressions and try to navigate an increasingly complex reality.
A Day in the Life of Robots is Emanuel Ringborg Mankert’s first solo exhibition – a pop-art tribute to colour and joy. All works are painted in acrylic on canvas.
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