Sunsets

Oh, what a beautiful eternity is an ongoing painting performance project. It began during a residency in San Cataldo in 2010, an old convent on the Amalphi coast, where I spent a month studying various religious and spiritual texts on the subject of passing from life to death. My interest in this matter emerged after a rather tricky operation and a psychosis, which led to a haunting fear of death and the afterlife. I was somehow trying to find answers and reassurance that I had nothing to fear. I made various drawings and collages during my stay, and one of them I have been sticking to ever since – a repetition of a setting sun visualized as a half circle.

Since then, I have kept the habit of occasionally reverting to this motif and the rather impossible attempt to create an eternity. The painting series becomes a tagging and a measurement for time spent. In this way, an inherent reflection on labor is always present – what is good work – amount or quality? What makes sense to spend one’s time on? and what is the purpose of it all? In this way, the series connects to the essential questions of all humans. What is my purpose here, and does what I do with my life make any sense?

The safe zone I have created in working on this motif – knowing that I have something to do, is therefore always threatened by my own doubt. This series links to so many of my other works, in which I am concerned with the overall religious and spiritual questions and the vulnerability and tension between faith and belief.

Painting and drawing on various materials, 2010-?