We Fell in Love on the Internet – Ullger reflects on London exhibition

Gibraltarian artist Karl Ullger has returned from London after taking part in Cane-Yo’s largest exhibition to date, We Fell in Love on the Internet, which brought together the works of 35 artists from around the world.

The four-day exhibition, held in Peckham, saw close to 1,000 people attend on its opening night alone. Speaking to the Chronicle, he described the experience of helping prepare the show: “Even though the exhibition itself run for 4 days, we met two days before for the actual hanging.”

“Fortunate enough for us, Theo Ritzinger (who was also an exhibiting artist) had already prepared the curation of the show via some software to be able to visualise the wall and gallery space.”

“The show was carefully curated by himself, Peter Salmi and Nicole Debono.”

“So, despite being stressful times during the hanging, it was also a lot of fun as we had artist combinations helping each other out, drilling, hammering and hanging. I can confirm there were a lot of rest breaks and laughs during the process.”

“You can imagine [the atmosphere] when you put 35 creatives in a room who chat online daily and some haven’t seen each other properly since the last Cane-Yo show in Antwerp in 2023.”

Mr Ullger was present for the preparations and opening, although unable to attend the final two days of the exhibition.

However, during the lead up to the show prior to the opening, the exhibiting artists would admire and have tours of each others work.

“Asking questions of each others art, techniques, subject matter or even the process of how that person has arrived at that final conclusion or composition,” he said.

One conversation that came to his mind was when Milo Hartnoll was explaining to him how he uses his phone to compile and develop his compositions of some of his paintings,“removing and adding digital stickers, changing colour backgrounds, adding text etc. then taking that to an actual canvas.”

“Milo was one of the founding fathers of Cane-Yo and, speaking to him in person, you realise how creatively intelligent he his and current to how art is developing and heading with this digital age that we are now living in.,” he said.

“Chatting to my fellow participating artists was definitely up there as conversational highlights from the event.”

“My hanging partner was the colour pencil wizard artist, Alf Sims. And while we worked together it was interesting to pick his brains of his processes with how he uses Caran d’Ache luminance colour pencils.”

The event drew attention from London’s art scene, with historian Hector Campbell promoting it online, and well-known artists Jonathan Channing and Tom Mead in attendance.

“I’m very proud to say that both my paintings, Frank and Eva, featured on their online stories,” said Mr Ullger.

Another standout moment came when one of his paintings, Los Coquitos, was paired with a local delicacy.

“Since the ‘coconut ball sweet’ is not common in UK, I decided to take the taste to Peckham, London.”

I took over, from Gibraltar, 40 Coquitos and presented it on a plinth in front of the paintings.”

“These proved to be a massive hit for the incoming art lovers.”

“Tasting the painting as I explained a bit about it. The painting became a bit of an interactive art piece,” he added.

The exhibition also included workshops and live demonstrations, ranging from graphite portrait drawing and tattoo flash designs to live painting duels.

Reflecting on exhibiting alongside 34 other artists, Mr Ullger said: “Despite personally having shown in London before in other shows, this was the first time we had exhibited together as a Cane-Yo collective.”

“So, that already made it very special. The opening night was magical indeed, not only seeing so many fantastic artists under one roof but seeing so many of those artworks which we see, like and heart online but were now in awe in person.”

He added that the theme We Fell in Love on the Internet resonated strongly with the Cane-Yo collective.

“The title is very much about that. Fellow artists, whether well known or not, fell in love with each others’ work and styles. Fuelling that artistic urge and breaking those artist blocks,” he said.

Looking ahead, the group is already planning its next major exhibition in Berlin in spring 2026.

“The Berlin show is probably the worst-kept secret in camp,” he said. The date has not been agreed although it will be spring 2026.

Alongside the exhibition, Mr Ullger also received news of a nomination for the Gibraltar Culture Awards 2025.

“I am incredibly grateful to have even been considered alongside fellow Gibraltarian creatives, dancers, singers, photographers and wish all the luck to everyone involved,” he said.

Summing up the past 12 months for him he said that it “personally has been artistically extremely rewarding and fulfilling having my sixth solo last October, exhibiting in Miami in December, Morocco in April and now this August in London with my Cane-Yo peers.”

“All very different experiences but highlights in my artistic journey. I must thank Cane-Yo for being a very encouraging and inspirational community.”