Since 2007 Artlink, in association with Donegal County Council’s Arts Office, has been building links with Vesterålen, in northern Norway, and East Iceland to explore the potential of working with other artistic communities in similarly remote, rural settings. Continuing with this developing relationship Artlink hosted Christian Skagen, an artist from Vesterålen, as artist-in-residence at Fort Dunree.
During his residency Christian delivered a talk on his working processes and led a workshop in Japanese knife sharpening, a process that is integral to his practice. He also shipped an exhibition of his drawings to Fort Dunree.
Christian’s approach is slow and methodical, almost meditative, a pursuit of absolute calm where thoughts are stilled and the mind is truly quiet.
The deceptively simple and incredibly intricate small-scale drawings stand in opposition to a world of fast-paced and ephemeral image making. With no obvious external subject matter, these images exist purely as themselves and invite, quietly, that we simply look at these marks on the paper without the need for external reference.
For the past 15 years Christian has been working with his partner Ragnhild Adelheid Holten. They have an ancient property in Stokmarknes, Vesterålen which they have been gradually restoring. It contains their home and two studios. The old house, though demanding, has in many ways given them independence. Ragnhild paints and Christian draws. Their home and studios are their primary mode of work and interaction with the public.
To me the dialogue between the hand and the mind is essential. I explore and use tools to be creative. My work approaches the non referential but it is somewhat an impossible concept. I follow impulses and inspirations but I discipline myself through the action of drawing.
The residency at Artlink is a new experience for me. To meet fellow artists and explore the Irish countryside is a great experience. A step away from a isolative focus that has been going on for me in Northern Norway.
In this residency I have brought an exhibition of drawings with me from Vesterålen. Together with the drawings I am showing videos of how the drawings are done and some of the more experimental work. I have been walking on the stretch between Buncrana and Fort Dunree, making videos and taking photographs. This I will bring home to Vesterålen and develop further.
I returned to Vesterålen, Northern Norway in my late twenties. Perhaps as a way to find silence and to be able to listen to inspiration which tends to disappear for me when in larger urban areas with all their impulses.
I started out exploring art at 17 and attended art school in Oslo where the curriculum was traditional with croquis, nudes and still-life. I am most grateful for those early years in the nineties. What we learnt at school was in great contrast to what we saw at the Museum of Contemporary art in Oslo.
In 2010 I achieved membership in the Norwegian Pictorial Artists Association and the Norwegian Drawing society, this was a turning point professionally. To have that acceptance and still be able to work in the outskirts is a good thing for me.
At a basic level my concept of art has been very simple. I work with art as a picture on a wall or perhaps a sculpture in the garden. Naturally art is more complex than this but those two yardsticks have been a helpful way for me to focus. I am constantly trying to break free from my self-imposed dogma and sometimes I am successful.
Every morning I draw with simple tools. I use fountain pens and for the most part a ruler. It is a meditative action. I gravitate towards drawing nothing which probably is my ultimate goal. To draw nothing. But I am not yet enough of a zen buddhist to achieve this so simple things appear. Circles, squares, ellipses all constructed by a dense field of semi parallel lines. As I draw I am aware of the moment as the pen travels across the line. I get lost and ideas appear, the next drawing, some concept or problem or maybe some sculpture I want to make.
For 15 years now I have been working together with my partner Ragnhild Adelheid Holten. We have an ancient property in Stokmarknes, Vesterålen which we have been developing gradually. It contains our home and two studios. The old house though demanding has given us independence in may ways. She paints and I draw. Our home and studios are our primary mode of work and interaction with the public. Fortunately our travels have been more frequent the last few years and she will be joining me at the end of the residency. There is much to explore in Ireland.
Christian Skagen
- November 07, 2019
