Petter Thoen

The 1960s and early 1970s found Thoen in an unlikely dual role: working as Sweden's first roadie for rock musician Jan Rodhe while continuing to produce comic drawings for publications like FIB-aktuellt and Se. In 1972 he moved to the United States and reinvented himself as an advertising art director, eventually running his own agency, Johnston, Thoen and Partners. His corporate clients included General Electric, Rockwell International, and the Wall Street Journal. Over three decades he won more than a hundred industry awards, including the Clio, the ANDY, and the CA Award.

Then came September 11, 2001. Witnessing the attacks firsthand prompted Thoen to abandon advertising entirely and return to what he had always been at heart: an image-maker. Drawing on the visual language of Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, but filtered through his own Scandinavian sensibility and comic-strip roots, he began producing colourful lithographs that blend pop art irony with genuine warmth. Works like "OMG! We Are Out of Champagne", depicting a wide-eyed woman in Lichtenstein-esque Ben-Day dots against vivid colour fields, became popular across Scandinavia, with over 30,000 copies of his prints sold worldwide.

Thoen's work sits comfortably between art and lifestyle, gallery wall and living room. His limited-edition lithographs, typically signed and numbered, combine accessible humour with confident graphic skill. Around 2012 he moved into oil painting before returning to printmaking, maintaining a prolific output across both mediums.

On Auctionist, 143 Thoen items are indexed, with prints and engravings accounting for 128 pieces. The Norwegian gallery Fineart handles the vast majority (131 items). His painting "Showerphant" holds the top result at NOK 7,000, while his popular lithographs trade in the SEK 1,000-2,000 range, making him one of the most accessible contemporary artists on the platform.