FIGURES & NATURE MORTE

This work series is a sample of classical studies based on real life observations.
The 2 explorer self portraits first presented are variations of an on site visit to the last protected natural site in Copenhagen – Amager Fælled, which is under threat due to new urban planning strategies. The motive is inspired by the Suri tribe in the Omo Valley in the plains of south-western Ethiopia and tribe members ‘natural fashion’ using their skin as a surface to express themselves artistically decorating their bodies with natural pigments made from powdered volcanic rock as red ochre, green copper ore, white kaolin and powdered limestone as well as making elaborate headwear of flowers, fruits, leaves, grasses, shells, feathers and animal horns. Similarly I’m wearing a headbouquet of natural plants, some of which are seldom only living in areas like this like Quaking Grass, Cynosures, Fernleaf Dropwort, and Inula salicina, and carry a piece of cultivated nature in my hand: a piece of chopped wood as a symbolic weapon.
The 4. explorer portrait is inspired by the situation on Antarctica, where the bed rock under the ice is similar to that of Hawaii. What will happen to this unclaimed territory in the future when the ice has melted? Will it become a new surfers’ paradise like Hawaii and The Cold Hawaii in Northern Denmark. Cruise ships are already regularly visiting promoted by slogans like ‘Explore the Great White Continent Untouched by Man’.
The other works are a mix of animal portrays in oil paint and woodcut and still lifes.
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