Henrik Simonsen grew up in the outskirts of Gørløse, a small village in the Danish countryside. His formative years in Denmark have shaped the evolution of his artistic practice and today the artist’s original inspiration can be traced back to his Scandinavian heritage. While his influences cannot be attributed to a singular source, the fantastical worlds created by writers of his childhood such as Hans Christian Andersen, has induced the artist to evoke storytelling in his works - whether that be a sense of foreboding, of anticipation, or simply serenity. Other inspiration links him to the French 'Rococo' art movement for the way it embraced opulence and sensuality

Simonsen’s artistic style is often referred to as Nordic Expressionism. Seen as a branch of the traditional expressionist movement, it is recognised through the work of artists such as Edvard Munch (Norwegian) and Asger Jorn (Danish).

The landscape provides the memories and experiences of nature that Simonsen draws upon for his subject matter. The light, unique to this part of the world, creates the dramatic contrasts between the seasons that inspire Simonsen’s palette.

A painter first and foremost, Simonsen uses his observations, memories, sketches and drawings of nature to form the basis of his work. However, his paintings are far from a literal translation of the natural world. Simonsen draws freehand; sometimes referring to a particular plant he has observed and other times letting his imagination or memories of his experiences take the lead. His works grow and change as he creates them: drawing, sketching, brushing, splashing and even pouring paint onto the canvas. Starting with a simple line, his images are never planned from the outset and so like nature, they grow organically, creating infinite shapes and forms. The resulting works often sit somewhere between representational and abstract, but where they are on this scale can be surprising.

Works such as Where the Wild Things Grow (2011) can be described as more towards the abstract scale. Simonsen combined layers of carefully drawn autumnal leaves with large areas of loosely applied colour - the background appearing as splashes of paint dripping from the page. In this work the detailed forms of the leaves sometimes seem to melt away, allowing the more abstract elements to take over, as if the image is moving and changing before our very eyes.

In contrast, Blue and Orange (2011) takes a similar subject matter of wild, autumnal leaves, but strips back the composition to carefully detail each form to shine through against a flat bright-blue background. This work appears calmer and more serene and allows us to fully appreciate the figurative details - the twisting vines, the curves of the leaves and the tiny buds on spindly branches.

In the same way Simonsen’s forms shift between the abstract and the representational, a similar contradiction can be observed in his use of colour. On one side his bright, bold and non-naturalistic palette pulls away from reality and into a more intangible and distorted world. This seems true for a work such as Red and Blue (2011) where the use of blood-red and sky-blues combined with the effects of the dripping paint, mean the colours take creates a distance from nature as we know it.

In other works, despite his fantastical use of colour, Simonsen is somehow able to create images we feel intimately connected to and that are grounded in real experiences. Blue Hour (2019) exudes all the otherworldly qualities that Simonsen is known for. Menacing and shadowy forms creeping up the page in every shade of blue imaginable. However, as dreamlike as it seems, this work also reflects a very real light that the artist has observed at two particular times of the day - in the very early morning before the sun rises, and again at the end of the day, just after the sun has dipped below the horizon.

In Scandinavian it is called the ‘blue hour’. Viewers may not know it by this name, but most will have experienced the ‘blue hour’ at some point in their lives and can attribute a personal narrative to it. In Blue Hour Simonsen uses light and colour, not to distance it from reality, but as a trigger for very real feelings and memories.

Works like Blue Hour represent the extension of Simonsen’s practice into the art of screen-printing, a medium he has worked on for several years. The very nature of the printing process necessitates careful design and planning of images from the outset and so Simonsen must take a very different approach from his paintings, carefully considering each layer of the image, the choice of colours, and requiring exceptional foresight to envisage the final outcome of the work.

The artist’s dedication to screen-printing is demonstrated in the incredibly detailed, multi-layered editions he has released in collaboration with Eyestorm over the past eight years. Despite the challenges posed by this medium, print editions such as Late Summer (2018) and Blue Grass (2017) somehow manage to encapsulate the same spontaneous and organic aesthetic of the artist’s paintings, using abstract elements and even areas which appear like dripping or splashed paint. Although his paintings notably may inspire his printmaking, Simonsen does not aim to replicate any particular painting, with each edition created as an original work.

Simonsen has a natural passion for the handcrafted process of art making and his creative origins from his painting is not lost in his print editions. It is particularly evident in a work such as Gold Dusk (2013) where the artist hand applied gold and copper leaf over a 19 colour screen-print - as well as individually finishing each print with white paint. It is a work that bridges the gap between painting and screen-printing and shows off the breadth of possibilities available in the printing process.

Henrik Simonsen originally studied art in Denmark before spending two years studying in New York at Montclair University. He went on to further education at Exeter College of Art and Design between 1995 and 1998. Immersing himself in the contemporary art world, Simonsen later shared a studio in Brighton with fellow artists Dan Baldwin and Antony Micallef. His work is included in private and public collections around the world.

In addition to frequent solo shows in the United States, Simonsen’s works on paper have been globally exhibited over the past decade. His latest solo exhibition ‘Botanically’ is currently showing at Findlay Gallery in New York City.

You can available print editions by Henrik Simonsen on his artist page here.