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Vice Blog

Stockholm: Vatican Gold Exhibition Opening This Friday

If you for some reason haven't heard the rumors already, Vatican Gold – the highly anticipated exhibition featuring some of Vice's favorite photographers; Ed Templeton, Jerry Hsu and Jonnie Craig, and art by their fellow skateboarder-buddy Kevin "Spanky" Long – is opening in Stockholm on Friday at Gallery Steinsland Berliner, Bondegatan 70, at 6 PM. We just had a chat with Vice UK Staff Photographer Jonnie Craig about it, who kind of sort of put it together.

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How did the Vatican Gold exhibition come about?

Jonnie Craig: It came out of conversations between me, Jerry and Kevin talking about wanting to do a show together somewhere. Then Emerica, the skate brand, got involved and brought Ed into the equation.

Easy as that.

Easy as that.

What's with the title?

Jerry runs a blog called Nazi Gold and, as the show was initially intended for Berlin, we thought calling it that would be… distasteful. Then we found out that most of the Vatican's gold is Nazi gold. So it's basically the same title, only with a pretty bow on it.

Gold bless the Vatican… or Sin is Godliness, as I'm sure Orwell would have said. So did you all curate it together?

We all gave what we wanted to show. I don't know if that constitutes as curation.

What will you be showing?

I'll be showing five pictures from a new project of mine, about skateboarding and being young, that I'm working on for a book next year.

Can we get a preview?

Sure. This is a photo of Kevin I took in London recently, when we were on the tube and he fell asleep. I've been a fan of Kevin's skateboarding since I can remember, he's one of those rare few that seem to successfully get away with rolling through life almost scot-free, just skateboarding and making art. I like the way skateboarders interact with the world, finding things that people don't see, and how they find joy in something perfectly simple that a normal person wouldn't even consider.

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What will Kevin be showing in the exhibition?

He makes loads and loads of artworks made out of things he finds in newspapers or magazines. Be it on the bus or the tube, or wherever, he's always tearing something out of a newspaper lying around and stuffing it in his pocket, or picking up a leaf to save for later. So a bunch of collages he's made with those found bits and pieces, and also some crazily detailed scratchboard etchings of alien things. I think his art goes hand in hand with the skate mentality, a feeling of constantly needing to create and express.

I want to see another one of your photos.

This is my lil' buddy Casper. He used to be really small but, suddenly, he grew loads and shaved his head. I took the picture when we were walking down South Bank in London trying to find our friend who'd gone to an urban dump to look at all the sightseeing tourists. This is also Casper, shaving his arm with a lighter. He has a problem with the extremely long, white hairs he has all over him. I think he waxes his legs too.

Ha! I used to dye my arm-hair white for some reason. I guess tweens obsess over those little things. Let's see a photo by Ed Templeton.

I like this Ed Templeton image, but I'm not sure if it'll be in the exhibition.

And one by Jerry Hsu?

This is my favorite photo of Jerry's from the show. He manages to find the weirdest and funniest things of anyone I know. If you find something online that you think is weird or funny and send it to him, not only has he already seen it, within seconds he sends you back something even weirder.

Will you come to the opening?

Yes, I'll be there taking everyone's credit.