Artist Statement
Kjell is a Norwegian artist who moved to London for love in 2010. He grew up on his family’s farm in Southwest Norway and for many years was a teacher and later headmaster. His desire to create a better world also led him into political activism for many years. Kjell has painted most of his life, and it became his full time occupation 15 years ago.
Abstraction is his preferred expression. “I have huge freedom, and what is better to express concentrated emotions than this abstract language?” Kjell’s paintings are true emotional expressions of an investigation of his mind or memory; colours being the letters in his painter’s language. Kjell’s wish is for people to identify some feeling of their own when they look at his work; rather than seeking to “understand” them.
Kjell in his own words:
As an artist I have something to communicate and painting is my channel. Lines, figures and colours are the letters of my language. I think of myself as a colourist and the colours usually carry most of the message. Colours cooperate in communicating feelings or experiences. If a viewer feels that the painting speaks to them and likes it or finds it intriguing, I feel I have succeeded. The viewer establishes her or his own conversation and finishes my work.
Inspiration
I work in an abstract style, but my starting point is usually quite concrete. It can be a piece of music, a book, a meeting with somebody. It can be anything that makes something inside me vibrate enough to inspire me to make a painting. Notable examples of this are his Symphony Paintings, each inspired by one of Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies and the Jazz Series, inspired by Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue.
Working methods
I work with the surface (usually a canvas) lying flat on my table. The acrylic paint applied is thinned, and the colours mix again on the surface. I have three assistants, they are Time, Water and Gravity. They don’t always obey my instruction, and sometimes they add details of their own. I use syringes and palette knives more than brushes which creates my recognisable signature.