As someone relatively new to the "Mattias Adolfsson Experience," I am always fascinated by level of thought and wit he puts into the seemingly offhand drawings that fill his moleskines. Exploring such diverse subject matter as architecture, vehicles of transportation, robots, farm animals, and alternative LOTR characters to name only a few, his drawings frequently take Baroque inspired ornamentation to hilarious excess, as can be seen in "the vialator." And, of course, who can honestly say that "the goosafon" is not hilarious? Or any anachronistically placed animal for that matter.

As an admittedly snobbish academic musician (i'll have a PhD in Music Theory before the world-wide recession ends), I find an extra level of humor. Every instrument on the page is patently or practically unplayable: the organ has 22 keys but only 7 pipes, the vialator at best plays 6 notes and at worst causes hernias or tracheal impalement, i'll never be able to not giggle at the thought of blowing air into a cement block, and you get the idea...

Mattias's technical prowess with ink and watercolor are, as always, on immediate display. Simplified palate, careful and practical use of shadow, and believable handwriting contribute rather than detract from the sketchbook aura of his work.

Now that I watch both his deviantart page and his blog in giddy anticipation of new and exciting things, i can only imagine how wonderful it must be to actually leaf through those books in real life...

First of all, I do not know what vision reffers to (is it regarding a world-wide vision? or the artist's vision itself?). I'll try and apply the later in my critique:

Your work is always whimsical, it contains a very unique vision of things, always full of detail and impossibly elaborate or sometimes, simply impossible in our world. These are no exception. The instruments you portray make me wonder what sort of wonderful musicians would play them, and how would these sound once played.
The originality of the piece relies not in the concept of "instruments" per say. If we were to analyse it in that field, then it would not be so impressive, as these are only instruments in the end, or variations of them. What makes them so original is the design, the concept in itself, particularly in the enigmatic "cuboe"
The technique is very personal and has been evolving over time, improving here and there while maintaining the artistic vision of the artis. Easily recognizable thanks to the ornamentaria and peculiar pieces (ie. tubes, heads, figures, etc...) that compose each piece. I must say, however, that even though we can see that it belongs to the same author, simple variations or additions in color would be nice to better enjoy the instruments. With these I reffer to shadows or color mixtures or perhaps even some effects, like rust. This is of course, a very personal opinion and I understand the desire of the artist to maintain the work simple and clean for better understanding of the pieces (it more than makes up with all the details done in inks).
Finally, impact. Matthias work always makes an impact in my entry folder because of it's originality and inteligent/witty ideas That is why I have him in mi watch list ^^