Pathways through you

Walking on her flesh, through her meadows and hills, I cherish the Earth - the Mother. Her beauty increases every time I look. Her wells run deeper the more I get to know her. The paths. The paths. The paths.

'Pathways through You' - Acrylics on canvas - 55x46 cm

A Matter of Spirit

'The Matter of Spirit' - Acrylics on canvas - 60x73 cm

Leaving the path

Watching this piece I remembered hiking in the mountains of Norway. Last time I was there I was by myself, which is a stupid thing to do really, since just a few kilometers into a valley you often find yourself outside of all networks, meaning you can't call for help. Falling is one thing, since you typically die anyway, but if you get stuck between rocks or cut yourself on a sharp edge while stumbling and find yourself bleeding and unable to make the walk back you could die in vain. Dying due to stupidity is something I would like to avoid, yet experiencing the Norweigan national parks in silence and solitude almost makes up for the risk. 

What I clearly remember are the times when I left the marked paths for a closer encounter with a waterfall spotted from afar, or to look down a crazy drop, and how the 'never leave the path'-warnings from old fairytales echoed inside. In the Norweigan mountains those words really make sense. The ground feels uncertain beneath your feet and you never know what's covered by or hidden by the moss and undergrowth. A badly chosen step can be fatal, and yet the seductive beauty drives you onward, further and further away from the path. 

'Leaving the Path' - Acrylics on canvas - 55x38 cm

A shore of stories and encounters

'In a Notebook on the Shore' - Acrylics on canvas - 65x81 cm

Where gold and glory no longer matters

There is a kind of treasure - an enrichening of experience - which turns everyday stuff and moments into pure wonder. While painting, I sometimes come across little sparks of this treasure, and it makes the paintings come alive - it makes me come alive. At such moments I'm no longer a painter, but a wizard, or a receiver of true treasure. As far as I know, this sort of gold cannot be sold or given away. We all have to find it for ourselves. The painting below did it for me. I wonder if it may do the same for you? Did any of the magic stick to the canvas? Can colors carry it?

'Beyond Gold and Glory' - Acrylics on canvas - 50x61 cm

A Secret Valley

Most titles show up while I'm painting the piece. Some while I'm done. Others I have to consider for a while. They're not very important and reflect my own interpretation rather than the painting itself. I wasn't sure about this one. Should it be 'The Secret Valley' or 'The Sacred Valley' or perhaps 'Twin Kindgom Valley' as a text based adventure game for Commodore 64 was called?

I see a valley, and there is something mysterious about it. I like mysterious.

'The Secret Valley' - Acrylics on canvas - 61x50 cm

A dancing world

In the Orient, and perhaps in Japan especially, many regular activities have developed into activities of great art, like serving tea, raking gravel, archery, writing characters, and trimming trees. The focus and presence required to perform these arts successfully can lead to inner development and to spiritual progress - they can become meditation.

Abstract Expressionism, on the contrary, is a Western discipline, completely lacking the strict forms and precise manners of the Eastern arts. As such, it can potentially lead to the same results but takes the practitioner on a path much closer to magic, and much closer to madness. Unbound and unruly, it may lead the mind astray…
...especially if combined with potato chips and diet coke on a regular basis.

Now, you don't need to enter very deeply into madness to realize that the whole world is dancing. … or do you? In that case, let's rephrase it into something like; everything is energy, and as such it is not still for a moment.

'The Music and Dance of Everything' - Acrylics on canvas - 65x50 cm

Opening a dream

When I was in my early twenties and was awakening to my artistical self I sometimes saw strange inner images before me which I believe represented what I wanted to accomplish as an artist. They were a waking dream of sorts and even while the imagery wasn't very clear I found them very attractive in a mysterious sort of way. I wanted to see them. I yearned to create them. The following painting is probably the first piece I've made that has some of the quality of those dream paintings of the past. Watching this painting brings back those memories. I believe I may be getting closer to the essense of my work.

'Opening a Dream' - Acrylics on canvas - 50x65 cm

Rivers of lava and rivers of life

From the great mountains comes rivers of water, which makes life possible in the lands below, but fire too, comes from the mountains, bringing death and renewal if we take a positive approach. Water too can kill, flooding populated areas and producing land-slides. I find it interesting and a bit humbling to consider these double-edged gifts of the powerful and mysterious heights. This piece is called 'Fire and Water From the Heights'

'Fire and Water from the Heights' - Acrylics on canvas - 54x65 cm'

Creating a moment

As I watched this painting take form I considered a primordial world where fires roared and forged, if you will, the landscapes later able to support the many forms of life we know today. Creation it seems happens through explosions, eruptions, and in great furnaces. I also like thinking about Creation as something which is still happening - the so called 'Big Bang' never stopped - that same energy is still moving through the Universe, but now in the many movements and forms we know as every day life. What does the creation of this very moment look like. What is required to happen behind the scenes for THIS moment to be real-ized?

'In the Making of a Moment' - Acrylics on canvas - 65x50 cm

Remembering the ancient past

Looking at this, I see stories. I often do when I behold my work. Many things are happening in there, which made me ponder the idea of transgenerational memories. It may not be the kind of memories easily seen or recalled, but a deeper, inherited kind, which becomes integrated in the bones and marrow, influencing who you are (perhaps a result of all generations before you). I also thought about the 'Now' as a place where all times exist, but only one is registered or revealed. Just thoughts.

'Transgenerational Memories - Acrylics on canvas - 51 x 60 cm'

Climbing Olympus

Let's continue the theme of mountains from the previous post. Olympus is a famous mountain of mythology. It is where the Gods live, according to the ancient Greek mind-set. This was actually, and still is, a fairly common notion in many parts of the world - that the mountains are home to divine powers. Is there any truth in such ideas and images? Can they be helpful at all? Perhaps shed some light on the structure or experience of our inner selves, or maybe on our relationship to the vertical dimension of experience? In any case mountains are powerful, and I love being in and among them, even when they scare me.

'On the Slopes of Olympus' - Acrylics on canvas - 65x81 cm

To discover your mountain

New work.

This is my first acrylic piece from 2019. It took a while to make it come together in a satisfying manner.

Are there mountains on the inside too?
Can they be scaled?
Can you build a home on them?

'To Discover Your Mountain' - Acrylics on canvas - 81x65 cm

The moonlight world

A piece from 2018 which has remained unposted until now. While colorful and fairly bright I have a feeling that this "scene" is taking place at night. Hence the title.

'The Moonlight Powers' - Acrylics on canvas - 81x65 cm - Niklas J Brandow

The Rule of Red

I was happy to see another red painting take shape in my studio. Since I work in a very intuitive fashion I don't really get to decide these things. Red is a very sensitive colour which can easily become too much and break up the balance of a piece. In this case I think we're okay. I'm not sure what this image means, if it has a meaning at all, but the shapes and colours made me go for a pretty title.

'Love Ascend' - Acrylics on canvas - 50x61 cm - Niklas J Brandow

A very nice feeling

In the beginning of February something happened when I was working in my studio. I sensed an inner shift of sorts which I believe changed my approach to painting. As an artist I would say that I am now more fearless, not as easily charmed, and my darlings now drop dead in deep mass graves of paint. ; )

I guess I have come to a point where painting is so every day that I no longer need to protect the results of my work, and that freedom (to destroy) enables me to take my creations further. That's what it feels like anyway. It somehow makes the work of painting richer and more enjoyable. I feel as if I'm able to work myself deeper into the canvas, making it give up another level of its secrets.

This is the first piece made since whatever happened. I call it Awakened Lands.

'Awakened Lands' - Acrylics on canvas - 81x65 cm - Niklas J Brandow

The Grand Adventure

The idea of having a picture before me (or in my head) and forcing the painting to look like it has never really been my cup of tea. Though that struggle may be very rewarding in many ways, I have always preferred the adventure of not knowing where the journey ends, at all. When I paint, I'd like the paintings to surprise me, and they often do – occasionally even in a positive way.

The most adventurous thing I know is to walk a forest path without knowing where it ends. Those who did that in a time when we knew less about the world must have found it fantastic. The possible imaginary outcome of following a trail today is somewhat limited compared to what it was like in the middle ages, or even earlier. Just the notion of being in the woods, not knowing for sure, which kinds of beasts (or trolls?) lives there, is thrilling. I'm typically very satisfied with beholding the variation of plants wherever my steps take me, but the element of surprise is certainly a nice bonus.

Generally though, I think adventure is a state of mind, much more than exotic events and locations. It is an openness, I feel – an excitement of experience which comes when one is able to not take things for granted, and dare let go of control. Adventure is about being present and not constantly anticipating the next moment. When there is no plan, all moments look fresh. Well, something like that, anyway.

This one may be a little saturated on information, but I enjoy it anyway. It is 'The Grand Aventure'.


'The Grand Adventure' - Acrylics on Canvas - 100 x 81 cm - Niklas J Brandow (Sold)

Clicking the image for a closer encounter is highly recommended.

I spy, with my little eye...

I never really decided to do abstract art. It was just something that happened as I opened up the doors and welcomed what I found there. For that reason, I don't mind when people see things in my work, and it is no problem when obvious figures appear, among the otherwise nameless forms. I try to be as honest and simple as I possibly can, and if that means saturated pinks and kittens, then so be it.

This piece has one such element, which several viewers have spotted. I'm not sure if it is coincidental, or in line with my sub- or unconscious will of expression. Can you also see it in there? ...and if you can, do you find it disturbing or helpful?

I call this piece 'Sounded his Trumpet'.



'Sounded his Trumpet' - Acrlics on Canvas - 54 x 65 cm - Niklas J Brandow (Sold)

The Heart of Art

As I had finished this painting, knowing it was done, I was sort of unimpressed by it. A few days later my mind had changed and I started to enjoy it quite a lot. I'm not sure how well it comes through here, but there is a sober calm over this piece, which attracts me. Like most of my work it contains a lot of visual information, but it is comparatively still. Also, the dominating blue colors make for a certain peacefulness. I personally had to look at it for a few days before it spoke to me. What kind of time can you spare? ; )
 

'Protectors of the Heart' - Acrylics on Canvas - 81 x 100 cm - Niklas J Brandow

 Click to enlarge.

Turning colors into gold

Elements come together to make worlds. Isn't that strange? The conditions for life on this planet are perfect, because it was the conditions themselves that summoned life from the soil and waters.

Colors, in the hands of man, turn into art, and art then turns into? Conflict? Self-knowledge? Another level of consciousness? Its uses are many, of course. Provoke a new order into being, or question yourself into nihilism? Entertain us into stupidity, or enthrall us with the wizardry of beauty?

Whom or what do you make these colors serve? Are you perhaps serving them? As simple organisms evolve into more complex ones through mutation, do colors and art transform too? Is art perhaps a mere, inevitable out-breath? Must it be more than that?

Many questions today obviously. Those of you who have read a bit about alchemy, know that the physical work and ambitions of the laboratory, also had a parallel spiritual counterpart. Seeking the the quintessense (also known as the fifth element, or the philosopher's stone), was not just the material matter of turning things into gold, but also a deeper mental or spiritual mystery. The single-minded laborious work and concentration on the enigma of all things, could bring about results apart from the chemical ones, and these seemed to be equally valued by the alchemists.

So too, I find the work on the canvas to be but a reflection of what goes on in the studio. Artistry is not mainly about making paintings (or songs etc), and even if that is what we initially set out to do, the potentials of staring at artwork in progress are far more interesting.

This one is called 'New Era Alchemy'.


'New Era Alchemy' - Acrylics on Canvas - 60 x 40 cm - Niklas J Brandow (Sold)

 Cheers!