“Ørestaden” is a newly built part of Copenhagen that used to be a desolate field on the island of Amager. That was before they built the Bridge of Øresund connecting Denmark and Sweden. At the time the idea behind Ørestaden was to create a huge area of urban dwellings for the growing population of the combined Copenhagen/Malmö region.
And so they built. Each new housing project more ambitious than the next. Each architect had his own idea of a magnificent building. Every square meter of allowed retailspace was jammed together in “Fields” – The largest shopping mall in Scandinavia. No cafes, no restaurants, no cosy little places to hang out. No-one thought about the urban area as a whole and what it takes to create what James Kunstler calls a place worth caring about.

Sadly Ørestaden now looks to become yet another ghetto. It’s simply not a place that anyone want’s to visit because it doesn’t speak to us. It’s bleak and inaccessible. From an architectural standpoint many of the buildings in Ørestaden are succesful. VM bjerget – “Mountain Dwellings” is an example of this, having won 4 international awards. Blame it on the recession, but apartments in VM -bjerget are now being offered for rent at reduced prices.

Art has many of the same characteristics as architecture, Not coincidentally the Danish School of Architecture is housed in the Royal Academy of Arts. So what makes some art more popular than other? Technical prowess, Depth, Originality, Visual aesthetics? Art may possess all these qualities yet still not hit home with the audience.

Whether we like it or not, the brand of the artist as well as the accessibility of his work is a deciding factor.
I feel comfortable owning a piece by an artist whose story and background I know, whose reputation is well known in general, whose art appeals to me and is easily accessible.
Does accessible mean that the art is shallow and has no depth? Ask David Hockney

The value of art has historically been closely linked to the story of the artist.
The new paradigm of art is really not new at all – The artist is responsible for maintaining and increasing the value of his art. Though storytelling, through promotion and any other means possible.

I am committed to this task, blogging is just one tool.
Enjoy todays Mirror Mirror (top).
Buy it here:
[wp_eStore_fancy2 id=10]

The next piece in the Mirror Mirror series. Acrylic paint and watercolor on A3 sized Hahnemühle torchon paper.

You can buy the piece here:
[wp_eStore_fancy2 id=8]
Enjoy!

A few years ago I received 6 limited edition prints from this series as a gift. They now adorn the walls of my apartment and I can’t walk to the kitchen without getting a cheeky grin from Mick.
I think the great quality of Bents photos lies the intimacy they possess. They feel private, much different from the usual ad smiles I see on every billboard. They feel like the family portraits that also hang in the hallway of my aparment.

Intimacy is hard to come by as a photographer. But when the photographer turns subject and snaps a photo in the mirror, things start to get intimate. There’s something else present – that which escapes the photographer. A moment of solitude and privacy. When published, this kind of photo reveals what the subject wishes, not the photographer. This is true exhibitionism.

In between teaching, I have been working on improving the blog with image galleries and an e-Store facility. The work is still not complete, but I can’t wait to have it up and running.
I am alone in running every aspect of my career as an artist, and so some of the “non-creative” work entails setting up email campaigns, writing, designing and operating the blog, learning CSS coding, arranging my own exhibitions, etc. etc..
It’s actually liberating at times to have some meaningful work when I’m not painting, but right now I’m beginning to feel distracted from my art.

The days when I create are the best. Nothing beats having produced a new piece and being able to show it here on the blog. I feel proud to wear my title as artist those days. Vanity is a strong motivation for action, and painting is my mirror. So today I thought I’d draw from that source of inspiration.

It’s located in the Meat Packing district of Copenhagen. Some of the district is now inhabited by artists, and I have my studio in a shared space called “Slagtehus 40” (Slaughterhouse 40) which opened only last summer.
As a former slaughtery it’s a rough space – walls covered with tiles, floors with epoxy to make it easy to clean off the blood from the cattle and swine being butchered here..
The place still smells like an animal. Partly from the traces of blood, partly from the catering firm housed downstairs. I have no idea what they’re making, but it doesn’t seem mouth watering.

My space is in the corner of a larger shared room, edges marked by tape on the floor.
It’s not huge, but I have enough room to work and store some of my previous pieces.
In the corner I have my desk on which I draw, sketch, blog and communicate using my mac.
My windows face the courtyard where in the summerevenings the hip young crowds gather in front of the bars “Karriere” and ” Jolene”.
The floor and walls is where I paint my acrylic works.

I like it here. It’s my space.

I have been working on the upcoming limited edition prints today, setting up my favourite paintings in the studio, first photographing and then later retouching them in Photoshop.

I am comfortable taking photos and will often bring my precious Canon 7D whenever I’m out on a trip or just feel like seeing life through a lens.
I have chosen to shoot solely with prime lenses since these give me the highest sharpness and speed for the buck. At some point I hope to get my hands on Canons revered L series Zoom lenses, but for now my primes do fine. I have two primes: a 35mm and a 50 mm which in most instances works fine as long as I can sneaker zoom.

To get superb sharpness and avoid shaking I mount the 7D on a Gitzo GT3541L tripod with an Arca Swiss Monoball Z1 head. There’s just nothing that will make this combination fail it’s job.
The Gitzo lets me level the camera at just about any height and angle while the Arca has a smooth grip as tight as a vise.
Shooting with a tiny Canon shutter release remote means I can avoid even the tiniest vibrations from my hand.
I love the feel of quality equipment.

Retouching and preparing photos for prints is another matter though.
My skills in Lightroom and Photoshop are still feeble and even simple tasks take ages for me to complete. Of course none of it would be possible unless I had consulted hours of tutorials on youtube and elsewhere. Thanks to all you teen wizkids!

Still it’s frustrating and I feel like I am wasting time. Nothing pisses me off like wasting time – as it’s the only truly finite resource that I have.
I hate myself on days when, instead of painting or drawing, I spend more time trying to work out how some widget or miserable little function works in photoshop.
Today was one such day. Made me want to break free from the bonds of my Mac.
Made me want to go back to basics – and paint.

Some features just appeal to me. Maybe it’s some darwinian mechanism. Maybe I’ve just been taught by the ad-industry. The end result is the same. Some proportions I just find pretty.

Working the internet in my quest to examine this I came across a set of facial proportions that supposedly would yield the perfect face. Apparently I am not alone in my perception of what is beautiful since I find the end result quite appealing.

The creepy thing about this girl, is that she might as well have existed in real life, but doesn’t. Only on paper.

Ideal proportions are a thing of the imagination, real beauty exists in the real world.

I realize now, that I often start a new piece when I can manage to blend reality and imagination.

Enjoy the result below:

“I only exist on paper” from Sketches By Carl Frederik Waage Beck

Best regards, Carl