Henrik Simonsen

Art Brokerage: Henrik Simonsen Danish Artist: b. 1974. Born in Denmark in 1974, Simonsen studied art in his native country before spending two years studying in New York and then at Exeter College of Art and Design. He has exhibited his work in group shows throughout the UK, in America and in his native Denmark. He has shown his work alongside his collage peers Dan Baldwin and Antony Micallef. He was invited along with artists such as Carl Andre, Anthony Gormley and Gerard Richter to create a unique piece for the permanent collection of SONS museum in Belgium's. Arresting and mysterious, Henrik Simonsen's paintings of nature are obsessively accurate in form yet almost abstract in composition and hue. Depicting each fine blade of grass, delicate leaf and spindly twig within their natural habitat, they are a surreal fusion between landscape and Dutch floral still life. The significance of colour in Simonsen's work is undeniable. Often abandoning realism in his pallet, he creates strong contrasts which allow the luminosity of the paint to sing on the canvas, at times giving the feel of a solorized photograph or alien atmosphere. Inspired by the stories of his compatriot, Hans Christian Andersen, Simonsen interweaves dark elements of fairytale onto particular works. Innocently beautiful depictions of Hemlock, Henbane and Black Berry, are dressed with name tags resembling gift cards or the 'eat me' 'drink me' labels of Alice in Wonderland. A dangerous distraction to their true poisonous, psychoactive and thorny motives. Rather than serving as illustrations, the paintings borrow from Andersen's tales to subtly hint at the prevailing folly of the human condition. "For me personally the draw of the subject matter is its inexhaustible richness and metaphorical ability to speak of human existence. Of life, passion and the brevity of existence." Listings wanted.