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N|N is NABROAD's blog
NABROAD engage in international exchange through publications, curatorial projects, events and exhibitions internationally. www.nabroad.org
N|N's writers are Tatevik Sargsyan and Bjørnar Pedersen & invited artists and curators.
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INTERVIEW | Rasmus Nilausen
The Dresden Green
Rasmus Nilausen is a Danish artist who is currently based between London and Barcelona. Rasmus was selected as part of the Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2011 where he presented his Diamond Collection paintings. He has obtained an MA in Fine Art (with distinction) from Chelsea College of Art, London. His paintings deal with the concept of copying and pasting, borrowing an image and transforming this into a new piece of work. He has had several group shows within the UK and Spain. Currently, Rasmus is part of a three-man group show called “3 under 40” at Galeria Marlborough in Barcelona.
Read more to find out what Rasmus tells us about the absurd parallels he draws between diamonds and painting, how he is avoiding to perfect his paintings and his collaboration with German artist Tobias Buckel.
(by Tatevik Sargsyan for N|N ©2012)
Introducing Rasmus Nilausen with 10 questions:
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What painting are you working on at the moment?
Rasmus: I just finished a work called The Clementine for my exhibition at the Marlborough in Barcelona.
Currently, I am working on a new series of works evolving around the idea of Still Life. These new works are becoming an exercise in what I would call humble painting. I am trying to tone down some of the narrative and let the series be more about formal things within the work, more about painting itself.
In your paintings, you explore the social aspect of ‘copy & paste’. To what extent do you use and manipulate the images that influence your paintings?
Rasmus: Over the last year I have been slowly moving away from the use of photography in my paintings. I manipulate the imagery quite a lot, just by drawing it “wrongly”. I have always used cropping as a tool, but lately I have found that the looser my drawing becomes, the more personal and awkward I find the finished painting. The final work surprises me more often now; I never really know how it will look until it is finished. That is exciting – I mean, the idea of finishing the work in order to see how it looks. That happens when you paint from imagination, then failure and unexpected things become a part of the process.
Which city inspires you the most?
Rasmus: I am not sure if inspiration is the right term. When something “inspires” me it has usually nothing to do with my work. Somehow the computer screen or reading books become a window to the outside world. How romantic, huh?
Deleuze’s Garden
In ‘The Perfect Painting’ you have said that, “The perfect painting is always the next one.” Plato thought that art should be perfect and Leonardo believed that painting was the most perfect form of art. Do you think perfection is attainable and how do you reach a contended acceptance?
Rasmus: I guess, I think of perfection as something abstract, something intangible, an idea. Perfection is the compensation that makes me work. That does not mean that perfection is necessarily attainable, it is more like the myth of Sisyphus or something like that.
What attracted you to diamonds and how did the Diamond Collection come about?
Rasmus: The Raffke Collection is an on-going project. It was first inspired by the novel Un cabinet d’amateur by Georges Perec.
There are so many parallels between diamonds and paintings. Most of them are quite absurd and even a bit pathetic . I find the matter of value very interesting. Then there is the matter of the original versus the forgery. Both diamonds and paintings are rare objects, yet replicable to a certain extent.
Obviously there is also an element of purely formal similarities between the surface of polished gems and abstract geometrical painting - the surface and the way that light gets reflected, the colours and so on.
The Florentine
Who are your favourite painters?
Rasmus: I have no real answer to that. I could easily make a long list, but then a year from now it would most likely change again. Anyway, the ones that would probably remain on the list would be painters like Paolo Ucello, Hieronymus Bosch, El Greco, Rubens and Rembrandt. Also Manet and Rousseau have been really important for me.
When it comes to modern and contemporary painting it is much trickier. I look at a lot of painting, but unfortunately it is often through reproductions, which is never really the same thing. At the moment some of my favourites are people like Neal Tait (whom I met during my studies at Chelsea), George Condo and Rene Daniëls.
Who would you like to collaborate with?
Rasmus: Maybe all of the contemporaries mentioned above…
Usually I tend to collaborate with painters, but the text you mentioned before, “The Perfect Painting” came out of a workshop in a theatre. The text was read aloud to the audience while the stage remained almost empty, only with a spot lit chair in one of the sides.
Usually I tend to collaborate with painters, but the text you mentioned before, “The Perfect Painting” came out of a workshop in a theatre. The text was read aloud to the audience while the stage remained almost empty, only with a spot lit chair in one of the sides.
Now I am working on a project with the German painter Tobias Buckel. I am also collaborating on a writing project with The Melt in London.
The Rapeseeds
What have you hidden inside the pyramid in The Rapeseeds?
Rasmus: If I were to tell you that, then it wouldn’t be hidden any longer…
Which art websites/blogs do you read regularly?
Rasmus: The more famous ones like Frieze, Art Forum or E-Flux that most people read. Then I follow a Danish one called kopenhagen.dk, two Spanish ones, A*desk and Salonkritik, and some independent blogs like selfselector.co.uk or artfridge.de. These are the ones I can remember right now.
What’s the last exhibition you have visited?
Rasmus: George Condo at The Hayward was amazing, I thought. Also I saw Oriol Vilapuig at Joan Prats in Barcelona recently, which I really enjoyed.
All images courtesy of the artist.
(by Tatevik Sargsyan for N|N ©2012)
