Anne Maria Udsen

Anne Maria Udsen

I try to visualize the borderland between the human process of building and nature's process of decomposition. In this borderland, I find the beauty of transience. Elements of decay and consumption become apparent as do glimpses of their erosion in the image compositions. These changes represent the transience of life or, vanitas, as if it were a contemporary still life. In glimpses, there are subtle shifts, openings that reveal basic forces of construction and destruction, like a shutter that opens and presents the viewer with a new dimension. Very often I isolate or shape my objects in order to strengthen the monumental impression. I stage my mental landscapes in a simple context where I often use objects or nature to comment on everyday life, relationships, life conditions etc. I mix oil with metal sheet to achieve an extra artistic dimension, an increasing three-dimensionality in the process between figuration and abstraction. Gradually I have become more concerned with the spatial possibilities offered by the surfaces characteristics. I work with metal sheet that have the alchemical property to change character with chemical process. This gives the pictures a particular surface that blends seamlessly with the underlying oil painting.