In 1999, I realized that painting was no longer my medium. I had this epiphany in my studio in Los Angeles, that every brushstroke was covering up reality rather than revealing it. My next show was Artistic Crisis Management Center (ACMaC). It was a performance, at which I sat as in the gallery space, offering frank discussions on artistic crisis management. The next 20 years I spent working with different artistic/activist strategies. The attempt was to redefine the audience and engaging in the political scene, attempting to define reality in in a way that allowed “audience” to become co-writers of their own reality. The absolute climax of this endeavour was Trampoline House as it existed from 2010-2020.

In 2023, I had come to and end-point of this journey. I was probably somewhat traumatised by all the social work which had been a big part of Trampoline House, but also, I had this sense of having lost something along on the road. My girlfriend told me I was lying to myself about myself. One day I found a studio outside Copenhagen, and looking out the windows from 3rd floor, I had a second epiphany: I realised that it was time for me to reboot painting.

The project presented on this website consists of all the paintings done in oil on canvas since that moment. #1 being the first.

It reveals a path of learning. Along the way, it is possible to see a painter trying different approaches, abandoning ideas, but working on the same motives over and over again. Sometimes fucking up, but using the experience to improve the following paintings. As matter, as a sign, as representation, as chaos, as revealing reality rather than painting it over.

The first 50 canvasses were all on canvas 30X40 cm. The reason was very practical: I knew it would take at least 2 years and a lot of paint to begin to understand painting. I thought better keep it small, as I do not have much storage. From #50 onwards, the paintings are usually bigger.

I believe there is a contradiction most important which I pursue. The more precise and on point a representative painting is rendered, the more inherent chaos can be allowed. The space in between the recognizable reality and the actual chaos of matter is a space where the questions remain and the viewer roams free.

Kitsch is always present when we look at the world as images. Images don’t take long to become a cover of the real. Paintings have a tendency to become kitsch, or paraphrasing it self, rather than staying authentic. But kitsch as imagery is also super interesting in its use of mundane vocabulary, big feelings and schematic beauty. Is it possible to paint the kitsch out of the landscape?

When I look at the series #1 - #71 I realise that some of the early paintings in this respect have the ability to match the later ones, whereas of course, along the way there are examples of paintings that fall into the trap, and become quite kitschy, closing the space where the questions should reside. This observation tells me that better technical skills do not offer the painter a safe haven. On the contrary, with greater skills comes greater responsibility. The most dangerous of all is to repeat yesterdays “triumph”.