(this is my August newsletter that I sent to mailinglist subscribers early August. If you would like one too early September please sign up here. Thank you!)
Hi everyone
Hope that you had a good summer so far. So there are two fun things to talk about. Maybe even three but let’s stick to the two serious ones.
First of all my new show Apricots and Freshwater Pearls opens at Hans Alf Gallery on Friday the 12th of August here in Copenhagen. You are very much welcome for a drink on the day at the Opening. We open at 17.00 and doors close at 20.00. The show will run until September 10 but it’s most fun if you can come and say hello at the opening.
The second thing is my new silkscreen print “Showtime” which is being released today and is available in my webshop. It’s one of my bigger prints based on a crayon drawing. I’m very happy with it. Special thanks to master printer Rune from Icescreen Printing. It’s always a pleasure to work with him - his patience with me, finding the right red, which is almost orange is second to none.
Back to the show. The title “Apricots and Freshwater Pearls” came from, well it’s pretty obvious… Apricots. I bought some very pretty Apricots one day and came home with them. They looked like small butts and had this intense orangeness with a red hue and yeah, they got me excited about painting them and painting apricot trees. On my way out to the studio I took some of the apricots and more or less by accident put them next to some of Carolina’s pearl jewellery. This was another painterly moment because the two objects together worked just great. When I look at these things I think about the history of the pearls - pearl divers, oysters, beauty, warmth, heat, islands and then you get it mixed up with french apricot farmers, the fickleness of the climate, ripe fruits, life, the design of everything, god maybe, the diverse european countryside - how everything nice seems to happen outside the city. For me, in this situation (the situation with the apricots and pearls) you have two options. Either you pack your bags and head to the french countryside and get wine and local food or you start painting. Painting is my main attraction so I went to the studio and started painting apricot trees.
One other thing about the show that might be important. When I did the last shows, Modern Love in 2018 and Angel in 2020 I painted a lot of women with their back turned against the viewer. But as with most good things you can’t keep doing them. So I stopped painting those.The truth is that, while I did those shows, and other shows, I tried to paint Carolina, facing me, and I was never really happy with the paintings (so I never showed them) until this year when I got to a place where I was suddenly happy with the outcome. The first one was “The Heatwave”. The painting is kind of self-explanatory. I think I worked on that painting for 7 years (in my head). As a painter you always wait for those moments - when something you tried to make work, suddenly works. When this happen you can tell yourself that all those other things you’ve tried and failed to do will probably also suddenly work one day. You can then continue the work. I think that’s why many painters paint until they are physically unable to do it anymore. It’s a real kick - I am my own little circus horse!! Apricots and Freshwater Pearls is a pretty personal show of mine - images from my own life, more or less real.
Asger and Hans from Hans Alf Gallery will handle all inquires for paintings and preview, pdf’s and the like. You can reach Asger on this email: asger@hansalf.com and he is available to send all information about the new paintings. And of course you can see all the new paintings here.
Hope to see you on the 12th of August. Write me if you have any questions.
all the best
Anders
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