Pappas Pärlor Pixel Street Art

Honestly, how cool is this? Swedish artist Johan Karlgren, also known as Pappas Pärlor, has been creating street art with his favorite 90s video game characters and pop culture icons. Homer Simpson walking backwards into a hedge, Mario Cart characters racing along the beach, and Sonic the Hedgehog skating the underbelly of a freeway pass . . . so nostalgic! Can you guess how he creates that 2D, pixilated look? Perler beads. YES, perler beads! Genius.

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4 Comments

  1. Kel wrote:

    Hi! There’s someone in nyc who was been doing pixelated space invaders, Mario people, other gaming creatures & even ninja turtles for years. Precariously placed where you wouldn’t expect. There have been a lot on the lower east side and it been going on for quite a long time. Is this the same guy? Or someone jumping on the wagon?

    6.7.19
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    • Erica wrote:

      I think you’re thinking of the French street artist, Invader, who yes, has used similar characters – but with ceramic tiles in mosaic form on street walls. Definitely inspired by but still a different medium and obviously, not permanent.

      6.7.19
  2. LG wrote:

    Swedish street artists have been using perler beads to place Nintendo videogame characters in various street scenes since the late 90’s, especially in Göteborg. Granted, this guy is particularly good at it, but he did NOT come up with that genre.

    3.1.22
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