The Choreography of Landscape Painting

2018

How to paint and document a landscape that is in constant motion and transformation? How to translate the atmosphere of a natural environment into a painting? What movements does the landscape contain?  What movements does the process of landscape painting depend on? I have worked with the landscape paintings surrounded by the mountains in Hunnedalen, Norway. The river has been flowing vividly a few meters further down the valley. I have been sitting in soft grass and pulled in the smell of summer and clear mountain air. A desire to stop, breathe, be present inhale the moment, the nature, my life. A desire to preserve and document a place that I love.

Choreography is movements put in order and system. In this project I explore movements in the framework of landscape painting. The choreography occurs in the process of coloring/painting textiles. It is a form of meditative repetition as each piece of textile is cut, put in water, folded and twisted, added paint, twisted again, and laid out to dry out on the grass. I left the textile outdoor for 24 hours, and during these 24 hours it was sun and blue sky, then it blew up to storm, rain and thunder. Around 5 o’clock in the morning three sheep walked happily over the painting. The sun rose again, and with a light breeze, the paintings eventually dried. These movements are all part of the process behind my landscape paintings – this is The choreography of Landscape Painting. My landscape paintings thus occur as an interaction between me and nature itself.