From abstract expressionist to digital montages
I have known Preben as both a fellow artist and as a curator of exhibitions for many years (from around 1998). He is based in Copenhagen, Denmark the country of his birth.
When I first viewed Preben's paintings, in real life, they were in the abstract expressionists style. The work had a story to tell, one which the viewer discovered as the imagery cleared through the many applications of layers of paint. Three paintings that struck me as very intriguing at the time were, “Man in the Moon,” “Mind Citadels.” and “Painted from Memory.” The titles for these three neo-abstract expressionist paintings were important, as it gave a lead and began a sort of game with the viewer and the painting. And the colour balance, tonality and technique of paint application was to my mind, not only very attractive but quite superb colour understanding. I had no compunction in including these three paintings in a major International Swedish Government Trust Fund sponsored Exhibition in Stockholm, one that I was Lead Artist and Curator for (“Heart 2 Art,” Steninge Palace Kultur Center, 2002).
Over the decades Preben has tended to keep this 'mind-game' approach to creating Art through the natural changes that he has experienced as an Artist. Today his main bank of work continues to involve telling stories, but at this time he has developed a technique that employs both montage and paint applied by hand. His work is not simply an attractive image or clever use of 'props.Once again the titles play an important role. These new works are created in a variety of carefully positioned images where 'artistic instinct' and 'creation at the point of process' occur naturally.Preben is an artistic voyager, constantly on the move intellectually and always accompanied with his unique 'Danish' wit and quite ironic commentary in the artwork. Perhaps the most appealing part of Preben's current work is that the viewer can 'makeup' a story solely based on the title provided, which in most cases is not pedantically thrust upon one or indeed displayed. For example in ”Welcome to the Party” the composite is made of 20th century political heroes and villains, depending on which side of the political opinion one stands.
The 'Welcoming Party' could be the Communists or the Capitalists. Various 'super-heroes heroes are also seen as are beautiful women, a gun lying around on a table, for protection or do harm perhaps, monsters and strange words that in themselves mean either nothing, or something. It's thi
