A blog about my work and the way it happens. Things I see, hear, feel and find interesting, funny, odd or just plain curious. News about Everything and Anything Art wise, Expected or Unexpected. This blog is an open work diary for myself, and you are very welcome to follow me on my journey...

tirsdag den 25. maj 2010

Honolulu Academy Of Arts

Today I went on a little art expedition, all by myself. One I had been looking forward to: the Honolulu Academy of Arts. I took a taxi from the Hotel, although it wasn’t actually very far. I just wanted (at all cost) to avoid getting lost in the city! I didn’t know what to expect. You never do when all the Information you have is an Internet page and a place you have never even heard of.

I was simply looking forward to ART and to the experience. I did not get disappointed. It was an amazing place, and definitely worth a visit. The Gallery did not look that big from the outside, but I quickly found out that it was indeed huge. Many small rooms, and so many kinds of art: Egyptian, Italian Renaissance, Chinese, Islam - just to mention a few. and also modern Western Art - which is my favorite, I have to admit. In the collection were Warhol, Katz, O’Keefe. And also Dale Chihuly, to whom we probably got a bit overexposed while living in Tacoma, where he lives and works too. But it was nice and slightly nostalgic to see his work again. I enjoyed every moment, being surrounded by art, looking at it, taking it in. Sitting on the wood benches in the middle of a room with paintings on each wall, and smelling that special museum scent - of oil, thoughts, dust and varnish. Going through the many little courtyards, flipping through art books in the Museum Store, and eating a great lunch in the Museum Cafe. On a small scale I absolutely got that “MoMA feeing” which I have missed so many times since leaving NJ. So here I am, Tuesday night, writing on my laptop in the fancy Hilton Lobby. Feeling quite happy, enjoying my personal little (art) high and hoping it will last, at least for a while...

lørdag den 22. maj 2010

Local Hawaiian Art

I was lucky enough to get to go to Hawaii for a few weeks. It came about suddenly, and I am enjoying every moment of it. It is our first time here, and coming straight from Guam, we were expecting the climate to be the same. Wrong! Hawaii is much less humid, the breeze i

s comfortably cool, and NO insects! Very nice indeed. I am spending a lot of time just walking around, watching people, looking at stores, sitting on the beach, reading, listening to the waves and the breeze ...And of course I have visited a few local art galleries as well. I can’t help but stop and check it out - whether I like it or not, and whether I find it interesting or not. I am always curious. And not surprisingly I see a lot of Hawaiian land - and seascapes, flowers and hula girls. Guam is different, yet similar. The heritage naturally is different, yet the nature and flowers seem alike, to me, anyway. So in a lot of ways, the art here reminds me of the island I just left for a few week

s.


Thinking back - where I grew up on the Danish West Coast, it was the same thing: people painted what they were surrounded by. Most of my fellow artist were mainly inspired by the rugged Nature around the Northern Sea. The tall, freezing waves, the violent wind and the rough beaches. A differently beautiful landscape (-and about as opposite to this tropical setting as you can get). Every time I go home to visit, I see the same motifs and the same cool blue color schemes. And over time (perhaps because of not living there anymore) it has become quite nostalgic to me.


I guess it is a natural thing for your surroundings to rub off in your work to a certain extend. I have found that myself, even though all my environments have been extremely different. I think I pick up something from each place, and carry it with me in my work from place to place.






Snapshots from a local art gallery booth in Honolulu

tirsdag den 11. maj 2010

Wallpaper From a Scary Decade

As you probably already know, my work is a mixture of collage and acrylic on canvas. The wallpaper (collage) came into my work while we lived in Tacoma, WA. It happened quite coincidently, as I came across a couple of large wallpaper books in a vintage store downtown Tacoma. They were cheep, only $10 and $15, and I couldn’t pass it up. Kevin and I each brought one back to our apartment in the Stadium District. This spontaneous purchase would steer my work in a brand new direction. These, my two first books were (from what I can gather from the information on them) from the 1950’s. Maybe it was the pattern style, maybe it was Tacoma’s general 1950‘s atmosphere - don’t know?! But my work slowly but surely took a turn for thevintage. Since then I am always on the lookout for great sample books, from all decades. And I have been lucky to find a few great ones.


The idea of wallpaper, or general wall coverings gives me the chills. I remember the children’s rooms of my childhood, the brown/orange kitchens and green bathrooms. But in a new light, in small doses I like it. Love it even! When it comes to big bold patterns, it is definitely a case of Less is More. I find myself especially attracted to big flower/nature patterns - like the ones above. Not quite so vintage anymore. Maybe it is the feeling of tropical, island living. Palm trees, turquoise water and a warm breeze...

tirsdag den 4. maj 2010

Art Movies

I love movies about artists and their lives! At least some of them! Over time I have build up a small library of these type movies. I like them for very different reasons...


My absolute favorite is FRIDA, about Frida Kahlo. I think the creativity that went into this movie is mind blowing, and I think Selma Hayek is very believable as the artist. The explosion of colors and the beautiful scenes in this movie are overwhelming and so esthetically pleasing. (And then I do love Frida’s work as well!)

Another favorite of mine is POLLOCK, about Jackson Pollock. I think Ed Harris is great as the main character, and so is Marcia Gay Harden, as the artist’s wife. I am not a huge fan of Pollock’s work, but the movie tells a truly fascination story about an artist and a very troubled man.

The movie CARRINGTON about the British artist Dora Carrington is also among my favorites. She is part of the Bloomsbury Group, and both the bohemian sense of this group and the time period are told very well through this movie, I think. I have more, but these are just a few...


One movie I have, but that I am not crazy about is MODIGLIANI. I very much like the artist Modigliani, but I just don’t think Andy Garzia is the right choice for the character. I keep being taken out of the movie, it doesn’t come together for me. Perhaps that’s just me?!


Now that I sit here on Guam, fairly isolated from art, museums and galleries, I enjoy to watch one of these movies once in a while. The stories are from different times, from different places in the world, and depict very different artist’s visions and lives.