Over the 14 years that Eyestorm has worked with Simonsen, we have had the privilege of publishing his beautiful uniquely ethereal silkscreen prints. Inspired by nature, yet filled with colours that seem beyond the natural world, Simonsen’s prints, like his paintings, will captivate and mesmerise viewers.

If it is clear that Henrik Simonsen’s subject matter reflects nature, it is perhaps even more so that his colours do not. Bright, intense hues fill every corner of his works, inspired by the world around him, and yet intensified so strongly, and contrasted so boldly, they pull away from any reference to reality. Simonsen’s work is characterised by this unique contrast between his exuberant use of colours - an expression of the artist’s personal memories and emotions - and the subsequent grounding of his works in nature, through his meticulous detail and observation.

While his artistic roots have been in painting and drawing, Simonsen has also shown a strong commitment to the medium of printmaking throughout the development of his practice. For Simonsen, it is important to make the distinction between painting and printmaking because his approach to each can vary greatly. When painting, Simonsen often starts with just a single mark or sketch on the page and lets the artwork grow organically, gradually adding more marks and colours as the work develops. However, when creating a print he must consider each layer of image first, and how this will translate to a multi-layer screen-print in very specific colours. The original artworks for each layer of print are first completed in black, regardless of what colour they will be on the final print. Simonsen must carefully visualise how each of these black and white layers will translate to various colours in the final work - a much more deliberate process. In this way, his printmaking takes on a vastly different methodology from his painting, and he therefore approaches each of his prints as original artworks in themselves.

Simonsen’s newest print edition, Blue Grass is a 6-layer silkscreen print, which sees the artist return to imagery he has explored in previous paintings. The image of long grass, flowing in the wind is one that reminds the artist of his summers growing up in Denmark. While he has drawn such images before, Simonsen prefers to set aside previous visual references when creating his artwork, and instead let his imagination flow freely, and draw more from memory and instinct. Perhaps this is how he creates works that have both a visual reference to nature and reality, as well as a more abstract and impressionist quality- a representation of his personal experience of nature.

As with previous works, colour takes centre stage in this print. For Blue Grass, having created the artwork from sketches, the starting point for creating this print in the studio was finding that rich punchy red that forms the primary background to the print: “…I would like a fierce scarlet red as intense as it could possibly get… When I saw the red I knew we could make the print work”.

Simonsen then layers his artwork, beautiful detailed drawings of long grass in hues of blue, purple and pink, which stand out from the red with the effect of a photonegative. At first glance, this print may seem like a vibrant abstract expressionist painting in the way the colours dart across the page, starkly contrasting with the background. However, upon further inspection, viewers can appreciate the meticulous details in Simonsen’s botanical drawings, typical of the artist’s work, and grounding the image firmly back in nature.

The new screenprint edition titled Blue Grass is available at £820.00 and you can find more details here.