Yes, I think so, it’s nice being part of something that unites artists from all over the world, and it helps you discover inspiring artists you might not have found yourself.

I think it’s great, the art world does not offer a linear path like many other professions, so I think that providing some structure for emerging artists is very helpful. It also instills confidence in potential buyers.

It definitely helps with people being able to discover your art, which brings interest and opportunities. I think the founder genuinely cares about artists and their work, and this attracts attention from buyers who also genuinely care about art and artists, and not just the investment potential alone.

Yes definitely, but it is also derived from a romanticised perspective, as Danish landscapes are not as stereotypically Scandinavian as those of Sweden and Norway, where nature is more dramatic. I have always loved the brutal and dark landscapes of the north. In early childhood, I travelled to Iceland with my mum where I went to school for about a month, and the rough Icelandic landscape left a very big impression on me. In that sense, my paintings represent a form of imaginary landscape that draws upon inspiration from both the stereotyped landscapes of the north as well as the landscapes I grew up around.

In a way, it was quite a natural transition. Some of the first paintings I did in art school were based on photographs I had taken, and I continue to be inspired by the way in which photography always takes things out of context. My paintings often appear to be crops of something, with shapes that appear to, in theory, extend beyond the edge of the canvas. This comes from my inspiration from literature where a story is never truly finished, it can always be extended and built upon. In terms of the transition from a digital medium to a traditional one, I think that I realised that with painting, because you are making something ‘from scratch’, rather than always pointing at something else, it is more diverse and provides more freedom creatively. This to me, also means that it is more challenging, but I think that that is what has kept me interested.

I have found that I produce the best works when they are less planned. Whenever I try to adhere to a sketch or a predetermined image, I find that what I produce lacks tension and is uninteresting. To me, working quickly means that I respond visually, rather than analytically. When I let the works rest for a while and return to them, I then consider what is already on the canvas and how I want to develop the work, whilst still allowing for this development to be somewhat intuitive.

I enjoy producing something that doesn’t give itself away at first glance, as I personally like works of art that evoke curiosity, draws you in and surprises you. This also means that different individuals see different things in my works, which is important to me.

I rarely intend to produce works in series, but this often happens naturally because I become interested in the possibilities of a certain medium for a while. I often use a specific medium because I want the paint I am using to behave in a certain way. On top of paper, which is a very smooth surface, I can achieve very distinct, gestural brushstrokes. By mixing powder filler and glue, I can achieve very thick textures that contrast with the thin flatness of painted paper, adding dimension to the painting.

One of the most important things to me about my paintings is that I want them to sit somewhere between abstraction and representation. This is something that interests me in terms of how paintings that ‘resemble’ something can allude to a sense of narrative, rather than being literal illustrations. In the literary genre of magical realism, reality is enriched in a way that seems plausible, but at the same time, it can act as a form of escapism that suggests alternative worlds or ways of life. My interest in collage is also inspired by literature, as well as photography, where things are left out, either visually or theoretically, which adds an element of mystery. I am never basing a painting on a specific piece of literature, but they are often inspired the kinds of blurry, half-formed images that appear internally when reading a novel. In that sense, they are both mediators of fictional stories and visually driven.

Yes, I do see them as ambiguous characters of some kind, but they do not give themselves away completely. The cactuses that I paint are more obvious than the other ‘characters’, but they have a naivety about them and are often situated in dark surroundings that don’t quite fit with the usual aesthetic surrounding cactuses. This creates a tensions that I quite like, as I am interested in what happens when you place naive symbols within a dark, almost melancholic aesthetic.

I think that my paintings are ‘aware’ that they are paintings, because of their materiality and reference to the edge of the canvas, and in that sense, their size matters sculpturally. When curated, they form a kind of storyline, with each painting acting as a window that reveals a scene, place or event. They can therefore be curated in many different ways, and work both individually and in groups.

Absolutely, I think it is something I would like to develop further. In ‘Hairy Eyeball’, which is a small, very simple painting that is mostly pink, two objects that appear to be abstract ‘blobs’ are floating in the middle. When turned upside-down, these resemble fists showing the middle finger.

It has taken me a long time to develop my own language in painting, but it has now become more intuitive. When studying, I was mostly responding to what I was learning, but eventually I formed my own opinions and learnt what worked for me in terms of what I was trying to achieve. I now enjoy a faster method of working that allows me to develop within my own language, rather than feeling that each new painting has to reinvent my practice. Each of my paintings are still unique though, but the development of my practice has become more organic.

For a while, I felt that something was lacking, and I found that whilst I love being creative, I also enjoy learning new skills and challenging myself technically. Interior design is an area that combines creativity, aesthetics, technical knowledge and business skills. I have found that when doing art alone and nothing else, you can become stuck when you are not taking in any new inspiration or learning new things. Thinking in three dimensions from a design perspective is obviously different to painting, but I think that it will impact my painting practice positively, and that my background in painting will be beneficial to my interior design practice as well, so I am excited about what the future holds.