Henrik Godsk

Which 3 words best define how you would like your art to be perceived?

ENLIGHTENED, CLEAN and PRECISE.

What creative challenge have you faced and overcome that has transformed your art practice?

This year I have succeeded in finding the key to two different images that I have been working on for a long time: the passage and the creature. I did passages before, but the new ones are a bit different. The passages are about abstraction and space. The creatures depict imaginary creatures inspired by images from the Middle Ages.

I never felt that my earlier attempts at doing them worked. I did not seem to speak in my own voice. There were too many details. However, I found the key at last by working and working and working.

What tools do you use as part of the preliminary stages of your process?

I get inspired by everything. Art, literature, music and reality :) Sometimes ideas don’t get on paper until many months after they first appear. Once I begin to materialise the ideas, they start off as drawings, sketches. Quick ones. After that, I usually try them out with oil on paper. Next - oil on canvas.

How do you usually start an art session - any habits or rituals ?

I look at what I did the day before for a very long time. For me, making art is very much about looking, working, looking, working etc.

How do you deal with doubts and fears?

I accept them and just work.

With what intentions do you infuse your art making?

There are not a few simple messages I try to convey. My works are about what it means to be human essentially. A banal answer, but it is the truth.

Where do you draw your color inspiration from ?

I mix all my colors like in the old days :) My palette is Old School. Also, I like it when a few colors seem out of place. Like a singer who is a little out of key. I am colorblind.

What is something absurd that you love doing ?

Scream while listening to hardcore music.

What do you like about your work, what do you dislike about it?

It is getting there - I think I have a voice. I need more octaves though.

What brilliant piece of advice were given on your creative journey and would be happy to share?

Very banal: work. And work. Also - don’t listen too much to what other people think of your work. You know best.