Morten Lassen
Artist Statement
My work is abstract and expressive, which means that I don’t use sketches or other kinds of preparatory work before starting on a painting. My paintings develop as I am painting, and I work very spontaneously and intuitively.
The paintings consist of many layers. While painting the first layers, I try to conquer the canvas and make it mine. In the following layers, I work with colour composition, structure, contrast and balance. I work only with oil paint and that means, that the paintings need long periods of drying between the layers, sometimes 2-3 weeks.
Because of this, I have to work on many paintings at the same time if I want to have dry paintings to work on every day. I often work on 20-30 consecutively. It may sound chaotic to keep track on that many paintings, but I don’t see that as a problem because I always paint in the present. When I take a dry work out to work on, I don’t think about what I did to it last time or which thoughts I had. I work on it with fresh eyes, so to speak, and do what I feel important in the present moment.
Often the work changes dramatically during the process of layering. It takes 4-6 months to finalise a group of paintings and during that time the work undergoes big colour changes. It is these changes that builds the painting, and it is only because of the journey the works ends where they ends. I can’t skip the journey.
Painting on many paintings at the same time, the work often influences each other. Colours and symbols can be used from one work to the next and in some way you can “steal” and be inspired from oneself.
When the work reaches the end, I often work with some kind of symbols or figures. They are like fixing points and helps to “close” the painting. It is a very crucial time in the painting process because when the “figures” are there, there is no turning back. Either the painting works or I have to do some radical to the work to continue the journey.
If I had to describe when a painting is finished, it is easiest to describe it as a puzzle, where the last brick goes in. The painting kind of “locks” itself and becomes harmonic. As an artist, I get a feeling of release and perhaps happiness, and the desire to keep working on the painting disappears. You can say that a single brush stroke more, would be too much
Morten Lassen
The paintings consist of many layers. While painting the first layers, I try to conquer the canvas and make it mine. In the following layers, I work with colour composition, structure, contrast and balance. I work only with oil paint and that means, that the paintings need long periods of drying between the layers, sometimes 2-3 weeks.
Because of this, I have to work on many paintings at the same time if I want to have dry paintings to work on every day. I often work on 20-30 consecutively. It may sound chaotic to keep track on that many paintings, but I don’t see that as a problem because I always paint in the present. When I take a dry work out to work on, I don’t think about what I did to it last time or which thoughts I had. I work on it with fresh eyes, so to speak, and do what I feel important in the present moment.
Often the work changes dramatically during the process of layering. It takes 4-6 months to finalise a group of paintings and during that time the work undergoes big colour changes. It is these changes that builds the painting, and it is only because of the journey the works ends where they ends. I can’t skip the journey.
Painting on many paintings at the same time, the work often influences each other. Colours and symbols can be used from one work to the next and in some way you can “steal” and be inspired from oneself.
When the work reaches the end, I often work with some kind of symbols or figures. They are like fixing points and helps to “close” the painting. It is a very crucial time in the painting process because when the “figures” are there, there is no turning back. Either the painting works or I have to do some radical to the work to continue the journey.
If I had to describe when a painting is finished, it is easiest to describe it as a puzzle, where the last brick goes in. The painting kind of “locks” itself and becomes harmonic. As an artist, I get a feeling of release and perhaps happiness, and the desire to keep working on the painting disappears. You can say that a single brush stroke more, would be too much
Morten Lassen