Uniques

Most of my works come in limited edition series. However, I also create a) unique photographic images, b) prints on unique materials such as used metal sheets, c) combinations of art photography and acrylic painting, and d) works that are framed in a special manner.

A unique piece has one or more of my photographic elements. When it comes to paintings with no photographic elements, please go to the Paintings portfolio.

Common for Uniques is that they exist – and can only exist – as a single piece of art. Uniques will never be reproduced.

Quite a few of the Uniques below were made as experiments: Would it be possible to get this metal sheet through the inkjet printer, thicker and heavier than paper as they are? How would the pigment stick to various surfaces?

Or, how does an image change when printed on an unconventional surface? There is no white pigment in a printer, so when you print on, say, a sheet of copper, what is white in the image and would be white on a white fine art print will acquire the colour of the copper.

Exploring these aspects of printing fascinates me – also when things go wrong. One learns more from the unexpected and from what fails than from success…

In my work with the SPAR – Silk Peace Art Road – Installation from 2019, as well as the ten Combines (photo + acrylic painting) from 2020 that accompany it, I benefited a lot from what I had learned years before.

Concerning the works printed on various types of metal sheets: With one exception, they are all pigment prints created on an Epson printer, i.e. inkjet prints. They are not created by any type of light-based method.

The metal sheets have been used before or are wastes from a local tin smith, some have marks, scratches or notes, and some are slightly bent or otherwise non-perfect (which is why I have chosen them).

The ink in inkjet printers cannot stick directly to metal surfaces. To make that possible, one must first apply one or two layers of a grounder emulsion (unfortunately, no longer produced by Golden), let dry and then put the sheet through the printer as if it was a paper. This is not easy at all; metal is heavier than paper and tends to slide down or drop on its way through the printer.

A word of caution. The works in all the other portfolios are reproduced here from the same file as the final print you buy. In this portfolio, what you see are photographs of the work, since they are unique, and there is no print file for the artwork in its entirety.

This difference may imply some difference in the colours and appearance here from the work you will receive when buying it. Furthermore, photographing shiny metal surfaces always represent a problem.

The brownish or whitish background you see around most of the works below is just that – a background to create contrast; they are not part of the works.

Here is a selection. I hope you will find them interesting. And oh! – remember to move your cursor over each image to see all the details.

“Tire Series: Tuileries Flower Bird & Castle” – 2022
A car with paint on its tires drove over simple photo print roll paper, after which the image was printed on it. Contains marks from the asphalt as well as a little dirt.

This series – of which a couple more below – was inspired by Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage, who, in 1953, did an experiment with painting the tires of Cage’s old Ford T and drove over stitched typewriter papers. I used a 30-meter roll of very basic photo 230/sqm paper, Matte Professional, from Scandinavian Photo in Malmรถ, Sweden.

At the time, my wife and I had a dear friend, Annette Schiffman from Heidelberg, visiting, and she helped me select the colours, paint the tires, and fix the paper while I drove over it.

Great fun. Thank you, Annette!

Unavoidably, the paper will bulge thanks to being painted instead of printed on. C’est la vie! Then the paper has dried, I cut it where I think there is a pleasing “composition” while the rest are thrown away. Next, I create a collage and print it directly on the acrylic tire composition – trying to make a harmonious-holistic whole.

I love the elements of randomness and unpredictability of the process – also that you can never be completely sure where the print sits in relation to the paint or what it looks like on the paint. And there is only one try…


“Tire Series: Skopje Kiosk” – 2022
A car with paint on its tires drove over simple photo print roll paper, after which the image was printed on it. Contains marks from the asphalt as well as a little dirt.
“Tire Series: Birds and Camel” – 2022
A car with paint on its tires drove over simple photo print roll paper, after which the image was printed on it. Contains marks from the asphalt as well as a little dirt.
“Reconciliation” – 2017
Oil stick paint on copper with a photographic image inserted
16 x 33 cm, signed on the verso

“Oriental Head on Copper” – 2022
28 x 28 cm. Signed on the verso.
“Marilyn Monroe At An Exhibition” – 2016/2017
Print created in 2016, hand-painted the year after with acrylic colour.
Printed on Hahnemรผhle’s Photo Rag Deckle Edge paper A3+. Framed. Signed.


“Cindy Sherman And Me” – 2015/2017
Print created in 2015, hand-painted in 2017 with acrylic colour.
Printed on Canson Montval Aquarelle, A2. Signed.
“Brice Marden” – 2017
Created on Canson Montval Aquarelle paper. Printed paper cutout,
torn art magazine page with transfer gel, acrylic paint. Frame 44 x 60 cm. Signed.
“Departing Woman” – 2015
Printed on photo canvas and placed in an old handmade golden frame.
Print 29 x 39 cm, frame 47 x 57 cm. Signed on the verso.
“Origins Bared” – 2017
An old amateur glossy oil painting on canvas taken out of its frame. On it is mounted a painted-over photograph
on photo paper, a Burundian teenager, clipping from an art magazine of Gustave Courbet’s
“The Origin of the World” (1866) and a cutout of my photography of a “Varga Girl” pinup model
next to a bike in a Kyoto flee-market. 62,5 cm x 53 cm. Signed on the verso.
Wet Dress Woman (Iridescent)” – 2017
Photo printed on Canson Montval Aquarelle paper which was painted over with
iridescent white. It means that it changes in accordance with the light in which
it is viewed (and therefore difficult to photograph), thus limitless images in one.
Finally, the paint was scratched lightly. 33 x 48 cm. Signed.

“Afghan Boy In Arak, Iran” – 2016
Image printed on Canson Montval Aquarelle fine art paper and placed in an old handmade wooden frame.
Image area 33 x 39 cm. Frame 46 x 52,5 cm. Signed on the front.
“White Polka Splash” – 2009
Photograph inkjet-printed on a sheet of galvanized zink after white paintbrush strokes
had been applied. As intended at the production, the paint has cracked a little over time.
40 x 51 cm. Signed also on the verso.
“Lauren Bacall in Bilbao” – 2009
Inkjet print on scratched aluminium with various marks. 38 x 40 cm. Signed on the front and the verso.
“Asphalt Bike” – 2009
Inkjet print on hammered steel. 40 x 43 cm. Signed on the front and on the verso.
“Hyde Park Cherry Trees” – 2012
Inkjet print on scratched aluminium. 46 x 51 cm. Signed on the front and the verso.
“Narges In Iran” – 2015
Inkjet print on Canson Montval Aquarelle fine art paper, placed in a
handmade wooden, partly golden frame. 58 x 60 cm. Signed on the front.
“Biennale Reader With Hat” – 2011
Inkjet-printed photograph on a sheet of zink (with marks).

29,5 x 47 cm. Signed.

“Natalia Jumping – Red And Yellow” – 2011
Inkjet print on hammered steel that had been prepared with red and yellow
brushstrokes before the printing, 61 x 66 cm, signed.

All of these works are available in The Shop. You may see all the details, put in your basket, pay and check out in no time.

“Aline In Burundi” – 2011
Inkjet print on thin aluminium that was first prepared by acrylic colour brushstrokes.
35 cm x 66,5 cm. Signed.
“The Collection That Lost Its Way” – 2017
Hanging collage – cardboard, silk cloth, tapestry, photographs, magazine

cuttings and an old amateur oil painting on canvas.
68 x 145 cm. Signed.
“Barseback Boat” – 2011
Inkjet print on aluminium – here photographed on a glass shelf.
40 cm x 40 cm. Signed
.
“Mount Puig, Spain” – 2010
Printed on brushed steel by a light process but not by myself.
25 cm x 35 cm, signed on the verso
The Kinkaku-ji Temple in Kyoto – 2013
Inkjet print on steel. Sold.
“Woman In Window In Marrakesh – 2015
Inkjet print on Canson Montval Aquarelle fine art paper, placed in handmade
6-colour wooden frame. Print area 25 x 30 cm, the outer frame 35 x 40 cm. Signed.
“F In Burundi In Japanese Kimono” – 2011
Inkjet print on steel. 50 x 70 cm. Signed on the front and the verso.
“Geisha In Kyoto” – 2014
Inkjet print on white lacquered steel (glossy, light reflecting on its surface).
43 x 50 cm. Signed and stamped with Japanese name seal.

Below a close-up
Over the years, the black ink has dried and cracked beautifully but won’t fall off.
“Japan On Copper” – 2017
Collage with Japanese kimono silk, torn page of cartoon book with geishas, a cut-out photo,
and grey and red lacquer – on scratched copper with marks. 28 x 28 cm. Japanese name seal on front, signed on the verso.
“Marrakesh (Framed)” – 2015
Inkjet print on fine art photo paper inserted in an old handmade wooden frame.
Print area 32 x 40 cm, frame 45,5 x 53,5 cm
.
Signed on the front lower right corner and on the verso cover sheet.
“Miyo At Yakitori Restaurant (Steel)” – 2012
Inkjet print on scratched steel, 32 x 35 cm. With Japanese name seal. Signed on front and on the verso.
“Composition – Untitled” – 2009-2017
Two-layer collage with pencil, acrylic paint, photograph on silk paper,
calligraphy torn out of an old Japanese book, bits of photo test prints with Japanese
name seal. 59 x 42 cm. The inner sheet signed in 2009, the entire work 2017.
“Italian Icecream” – 2011
Inkjet print on polished and scratched aluminium, 49 x 62 cm. Signed on the front.
“Between The Bed And The Clock” (Study of Munch, Johns and Crosshatching) – 2011
Inkjet print on steel prepared with crayons and acrylic brushstrokes.
50 x 67 cm. Signed on the front.
“Osaka Bar, Hokusai And Smiley” – 2011
Inkjet print on scratched copper. Over the years, the emulsion and pigment have interacted

with the copper and changed and darkened it. It may eventually become even darker.
On the other hand, a new depth and wonderful colours have appeared.
The light stream at the bottom is from when it was photographed. It is not inside
the work itself. 40 x 50 cm. Signed on the front and the verso.

All of these works are available in The Shop. You may see all the details, put in your basket, pay and check out in no time.

Created August 13, 2020
Updated August 6, 2023

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