Every year it happens all too soon; the coming season is showing up. This one is like a guest arriving slightly too early, bringing with it a chillier breeze as the days steadily become shorter in the northern hemisphere. The excitement of spring and the long lazy summer days seems like yesterday, but soon enough the rhythm of nature starts to change. Grasses, flowers and trees have given all they had in them to grow during the spring and summer, and now slowly start to fade as autumn approaches. Resembling a ticker-tape parade celebrating a grand achievement, nature prepares the most stunning and flamboyant show of all. In the weeks to come leaves change into yellow, orange and red - and seeds are released in abundance, some of them filling the air like confetti, calmly drizzling from above.

It is the late summer. Impressively depicted in Simonsen’s work of the same title. Created by the light just before dusk at the end of a warm, late summer’s day there is a unique visual effect on nature. The sun falls in the sky, casting a low angled light that sifts through the trees. Shadows grow long and the shapes of the taller trees seem to dissolve - their hues darken almost to black. Simultaneously, the lower lying grass and flowers appear clearer, their colours radiant from the orange rays of the setting sun. Simonsen captures these unique contrasts with the tall looming trees appearing almost menacing in their darkness, towering above grasses in the foreground, creating silhouettes of bright fuchsia-pink and green nettles, electra-blue millets and darker scuba-blue hemlocks.

Alongside the optical effects of light, Simonsen is particularly interested in the life cycle of nature and the personal feelings that the seasons evoke. Late Summer represents the time of year when there is an imminent sense that it is coming to an end. But as the plants start to fade for the coming winter there is also a promise of new beginnings in the distant future. Simonsen relates nature’s process to his own personal feelings at this time of year, allowing for greater appreciation for what is left of it.

While Simonsen may take direct inspiration from nature, his works could be described as anything but naturalistic. Indeed, they more often take on a fantastical, otherworldly expression through bright and contrasting colours and semi-abstracted forms. The artist wishes to depict nature beyond just its physical form, imagining the trees and plants alive - in more ways than one - with their own voices and thoughts. These more whimsical ideas are a product of his childhood - growing up next to a forest and with a vivid imagination fueled by the tales of Hans Christian Andersen. For Simonsen, nature has always had a fairy-tale element, and like the works of the classic storytellers, his art can express themes of life, death, love, sorrow, hope and loss.

Viewers are invited to form their own stories in all of his works. Some may interpret Late Summer as a quite haunting image - a ghostly presence formed by the dark trees rising tall in the background. Perhaps, as darkness descends, they will come alive and transform into creatures of the forest? Others may see the work as telling a more optimistic story - a nostalgic reminder of those long summer evenings when the day never seems to end. To the artist, Late Summer is a depiction of both. Yes, there is a sense of the end as winter approaches, but there is also a gratitude of the long sun-filled summer that has been - and a knowledge that without this change of season, one or the other would not be appreciated, nor be able to look forward to when summer finally comes around again.

The 17-coloured manually layered screenprint proved to be the most challenging yet for the artist. New colours, such dark purples and various shades of green were introduced, giving Late Summer a unique vibrancy as it directs the attention to the undergrowth of the forest. Proudly representing Henrik Simonsen since 2009, Late Summer is the fifteenth print edition released exclusively in collaboration with Eyestorm. The edition of 60 is signed and numbered on front.

You can find more details about Late Summer, as well as see other available print editions by Henrik Simonsen, on his artist page here.