Norwegian artist Øivin Horvei first received a lot of attention as a painter. His paintings present surreal (and deceptively cute) scenes that evoke the joyful, playful creative spirit of classic Scandinavian illustration. The characters that dwell within his work are tweaked refugees from the greatest gonzo, sci-fi children’s book never written. Over time, Øivin’s output has become more and more diverse. Sculpture, video, music, performance, photography are all employed and help to build a more complete picture of his strange and wonderful vision. We spoke to him about trolls, robots and dim sum