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.

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

Now is the time for all you fine art photography buffs to swing by the V1 Gallery in Copenhagens very own MEPA district – Kødbyen.
V1 is hosting a joint exhibition of works by two up and coming artists that both have an eye for the human form.

As the press material states, Matthew Stone is such a promising artist that The Sunday Times has named him the most influential British artist under 30. Norman Rosenthal – famed curator and organiser of the controversial “Sensation” exhibit at the Royal Academy – has compared Stone to a young Hirst.
In short, Stone is not your everyday amateur photographer.

Asger Carlsen is not a stranger at the V1 gallery. Although the Dane works and lives in New York City, he has guested the V1 six times in the past five years. I guess that’s what you call an in-house artist.

Carlsen contributes “Wrong” – a series of doctored photos that at first glance look like the everyday snapshots we all manage to catch on the holiday to Rome or at grandmas birthday. The point of entry for Carlsen seems to be to make the viewer question reality. Are things really what they seem? Carlsen creates morphed images that depict people with duplicate faces, an MC rider with wooden legs and beachscapes inhabited by huge styrofoam blobs.

Many of the photos inspire laughs and smiles, some are plain ugly and for some I think V1’s introducing text puts it accurately by using the phrase “I wish I could Un-see this”.

In my opinion Carlsens theme has been tested thoroughly before, and I am not incredibly shaken by the idea that someone possibly tries to sell me something or manipulate me everytime I open a magazine. A number of television and viral ad campaigns spring to mind already, just think of Carlsbergs ping pong penguins and you get the picture.
As far as contemporary relevancy goes, this is a bit 2005-ish.

I have to give Carlsen credit for his photshop skills and choice of motif. I can’t tell whether he decides beforehand and has a composition in mind or just sorts through his archive of snapshots and picks out which ones to work on.
I suspect it’s a little bit of both. Especially the works of people with wooden legs look preconcieved and must have been created by repeated shots at the same location and then a bunch of layer masking in photoshop.

Bottom line: Carlsens photos are interesting and funny. they inspire a moment of contemplation, but the concept
gets old fast, and I quickly wonder if the dog knows other tricks.
A few photos have a nice aesthetics about them, but the majority make me want to vomit. But if you’re into weird, then there’s plenty to indulge in here.

Whereas Carlsen doctors the surreal, Matthew Stone focuses on human reality – close up.
His photoseries “Bodylanguage” hides nothing as it explores the human shape. Stone molds landscapes by twisting his models in every which way. Most of his photos are set in a controlled lighting environment with clear reference to Man Ray and Mapplethorpe. In that respect there is not much new under the sun – or clothes.

Some of the more interesting works are photos set in a gridlike frame. These cubicle shaped grids are displayed on the floor and create a 3rd dimension that is interesting for a subject like photography. This effect is mirrored in the cropping of some of the wall hung photos. These create a 3rd dimension in itself, and the resulting cubes appear as though they had different photos on each side.

I find Stones’ landscapes intrinsically interesting – hypnotic in fact. They have a visual quality about them that sucks the viewer in. Details abound. The sharpness and resolution forces me to look closer and inspect every little goosebump on the thighs of these naked bodies.

Are naked bodies relevant in 2010? The controversy issue must be dead by now, but Stones bodyscapes invoke emotions and a sense of curiosity that can never be irrelevant. As far as aesthetics go – Stone’s got me hooked.

The exhibition closes May 1st. Opening hours: Wednesday-Friday: 12-18. Saturday: 12-16.

Enjoy!

So your boss gives you an assignment –
1. “I need something, on my desk, whenever you feel like it”
2. “I need a presentation, on my desk, whenever you feel like it”
3. “I need a 5 slide presentation, on my desk, whenever you feel like it”
4 ” I need a 5 slide text-free presentation selling our product, on my desk, whenever you feel like it”
5. “I need a 5 slide text-free presentation selling our product, on my desk, in 1 hour”

Which assignment is more likely to ignite your creative spark?
Which is more likely to make you get it done anytime soon?
Which is more likely to focus your attention on the assignment?

Freedom is great, it’s the very reason why I don’t do 9-5 very well.
Too much freedom though, can kill the creative spark, make you apathetic, and make you less likely to focus your attention.

Cure? – Create rules, constraints and time limits on your work. and stick to them – well at least try to.
Afterall you’re the Boss, no?

This little watercolour above sums it up nicely.
For those receiving the post in your email inbox, remember to enable pictures or click the blue bolded header in the top of the mail.
Enjoy!

Why?” asks the host.

“Well, if I told you, you could just go home and copy my work” he replies.

Sure, there’s a craft in CREATING art, but chalking the value of your art up to some industrial secret seems sad.

Sure, anyone who wanted to spend their life praticing their craft so that they could be copying your work could do so, but to them I say – “Enjoy your life!”

So whats the secret about the value of art? The secret is that there is no secret. No one can copy your creative spark. A copy of Van Goghs sunflowers is well – a copy.

I got the feeling this artist was scared his art might lose its value if he told everyone how he made it.

Corporations often use so called Non Disclosure Agreements NDA’s to ensure that industrial secrets shared with business partners are not divulged to third parties. This makes sense since the value of a company rests on knowhow, patents etc.

Take The Coca Cola Company which fiercely protects the recipe for Coca Cola because this recipe is what makes Coce taste the way it does. What would happen if another company could claim that they make the exact same product?

Well obviously there is also the matter of branding, shaping the bottle etc., but clearly the value of the The Coca Cola Company would deteriorate.

What about artists then?

What happens when someone copies your method?

I hope you copy mine is all I’m sayin’

Enjoy this beauty as she emerges in 8x speed! Music by Bon Iver because his music is great. Go buy his album everyone. Seriously!

From Artworks by Carl Frederik Waage Beck