I am fascinated by these paintings by Scandinavian artist Henrik Simonsen. They are evocative of places I’ve been, while still abstract, experimental, and thrilling.
The artist says he finds “that the application of paint, especially when poured or thrown at the canvas gives the drawn lines an important contrast.” Like the subject matter, he allows the image to ‘grow’ on the canvas, evolving through the layers, with his process, as is changes all the time. It works for me!
I think he’s a magician of what artists call “negative space” (painting in the spaces between things rather than the thing itself, which is a skill I’d like to develop more. In this little video of him painting, you can see what I mean. Magic, right? Here’s another one of him negative painting. And here is one more. Totally intriguing.
Here you can see him painting and pouring over drawn marks. It is amazing to watch that and know it is oil paint.
See him painting foliage freehand without a reference.
Another of him freehand painting.
Here is him doing some line work. The careful quality of the marks is incredible.
Check out his work here on this post as well as on his website.
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