“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!

The Gatekeeper. The gallery is 4 steep steps up from street level. Very prohibitive when entering with a pram, but I managed somehow.
At the outset I am not saying that bringing 2 4-month-old toddlers to an art show is necessarily a good idea, but at least it got me thinking about the way traditional galleries approach their audience.

White floors, white walls, white ceiling. The traditional way of presenting art is to remove it from it’s context. This serves to enforce the notion that the item showed really IS art and eliminates any doubt in the eyes of the observer. This is one of the cornerstones of the “Found Objects” branch of art which claims anything can be art as long as it’s removed from it’s context. Think only of Damien Hirsts Sharks or Duchamps urinals.

Intimidating. The traditional art gallery is not for everyone. Whether this intimidating atmosphere is intended to discourage the observer from questioning the artistical quality of the items showed or simply to attract and repel certain segments of viewers is open for debate.
It’s probably a little bit of both though.

The traditional gallery is dying.
Like the cartoon? check Out Hugh Macleods work.

TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday)

I am pleased with the result, the colors are rich and deep, the paper soft like velvet.
Holding the print I am filled with a sense of joy and pride. I’m guessing many authors and artists have felt the same way when holding the first copy of their work. Somehow it get’s more real when I see it in real life. – I made this.

The print series will be limited, all signed and numbered. Stay tuned in the coming days to get the details on availability and pricing.

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

When it comes to worklife, I figure there are 2 kinds of people:

Type 1. Those that work the punch-in/punch-out job, and prefer it this way.
Type 2. Those that work the punch-in/punch-out job, and want to leave and be their own boss but feel they can’t.

Who feels more pain? Probably type 2. Pain comes from wanting what you cannot have.

There could be a trillion reasons why you might feel quitting just isn’t an option. Some common reasons are:

a. The mortgage due next week.
b. No time for moonlighting on my escape.
c. Fear of the unknown.

These are absolutely valid reasons, don’t get me wrong.

a. The mortgage is due, and if you’re like most people are, it has been due ever since you landed your first job. And as your paycheck increased over time, so did your mortgage. Net result – higher turnover in your household economy, but about the same level of free funds.
The constraint is the same as it has always been.
If you’re looking to change this, what you need is some more wiggle room in order to gain momentum for your escape. That means reducing your mortgage.

b. No time for moonlighting? Well, that’s why it’s called moonlighting – put in the hours if you’re serious about escape. Reducing time constraints is another option, but this may not be possible for you in your current job. Maybe the solution would be to switch to an interrim punch-in/punch-out job that is less demanding on your time. Going from 80 hours/week to 40 hours/week makes a big difference in your time schedule, but most likely won’t cut your paycheck in half.

c. But what’s on the other side? That’s for you to decide, but you probably have an idea, otherwise you wouldn’t feel this longing. Help yourself visualize the other side by describing what you’re aiming for. Most important – What is that you want to give to the world? What is it that you can do, that will make someone elses life better/easier etc?
What will your time schedule look like? What will your work environment be like? – a desk in a shared office space or working on the fly at the local café?
The more detailed, the less frightening.

Plan your escape and you will find the resolve to execute it.

best regards, Carl

This is the second painting in the series “Naked People” that I have set out to create during the next few months. While sticking to a motif that is universally understood and recognized, in this series I intend to explore the role of art and how art can be applied as a force of change.

Surely art can be used as a pretty piece to be hung on the wall above the couch. I’m sure many would agree that the lady to the right is a thing of beauty, but is that enough? There are conflicting emotions at work: on the one hand we enjoy beauty, on the other we shun “bad taste”. Hanging a Pirelli calendar in the livingroom would by some be considered bad taste, while a poster of Monet’s Nympheas signifies “good taste” in the absense of the cash to actually buy the real thing.

Few things are as disarming as the figure of a beautiful human body. Few things create more spontaneous conversation, and few things stick better in our memory.

Surely art can be something pretty to hang on the wall, but when art accomplishes to disarm us, create conversation and stick in our memory, we’ve come a long way.

Best regards, Carl