Sindre Braathen

SINDRE BRAATHEN
Artist
City of residence, OSLO, NOR

INSTAGRAM

The nerve in the paintings of Sindre Braathen comes from how he begins a painting without a plan. The intuitive expression based on shapes and colors happens while he paints. An interaction occurs between the abstract shapes against the white canvas. Textured stains and lines in the paintings show signs of previous motives having been painted over and erased in favor of something else. Sindre strip the paintings down to a playful, uncompromised exploration of form and color. The expression is naive and spontaneous, with psychedelic and humorous undertones.

Sindre Braathen started painting when he was 15 years old. He moved from Moss to Oslo at 19, and attended Strykejernet art school for 2 years. Since then he has participated in group shows and had solo shows, mainly in Moss and Oslo.

QA:

COL: Who are you and what do you do?
SB: I am Sindre Braathen and I paint paintings.

COL: What characterize you work? How would you describe your personal style?
SB: Playfulness with shapes and colors.

COL: How do your own experiences influence your work?
SB: It influences the choice of color and the formal language. Reflections of experiences, thoughts and moods are expressed unconsciously. For instance «The weather outside is bad, but it doesn’t matter». Or like that time I feel asleep at 5 a.m. on tram 13 and drove around for 2 hours. On a weekday.

COL: What will you be showing at the uncontaminated festival? (Big lines as selection is not final:)
SB: Paintings. Hopefully floating on a mattress in the pool at The Thief. And one painting at ICA. Surrounded by the blue Jif Universal spray bottles.

COL: What do you want to communicate through your work? Is there a message - political or otherwise?
SB: I want to communicate an uncompromising playfulness with shape and color.

COL: Do artists of today have some kind of of social responsibility?
SB: It isn’t really responsibility I associate with art. But freedom.

COL: What does uncontaminated mean for you?
SB: An opportunity to show artworks outside of a gallery.

COL: What is the most important thing in your life?
SB: Coffee.

COL: How do you feel right now?
SB: Awake. Because I work the nightshift and need to stay awake through the night. And satisfied because I am able to answer these questions. And a little discouraged because I need to go the police office when I get off work. To get a new passport.

COL: If you could change one thing in the world today, what would it be?
SB: Then I would change the thing about the passport. So that nobody would need a passport.

COL: What are the main reasons you are joining us for the festival this year?
SB: Access to other spaces to show art.

COL: What is the most important drive for you to create and why?
SB: It’s meditative. I have always liked to paint and draw. It is a big part of my life and my identity.

COL: Who or what do you value as a great inspiration for you creatively?
SB: Music, food, other artists and people. The autistic people I work with are a big inspiration. They have no filter.

COL: Can you elaborate on an important moment in your life where you experienced a big change, chose to make one or another event which altered your way of thinking or your approach to creativity?
SB: When I was 15 years old and saw a Basquiat painting for the first time.

COL: How does digital and social media affect or inspire your life and creations?
SB: It can be a source of inspiration like anything else.

COL: What do you define art?
SB: Things made with passion.

COL: What is your definition of artistic freedom?
SB: To not answer questions like these.

COL: Is there a difference for you between art and commercial/commissioned work?
SB: The difference is that making commissioned work usually sucks.

COL: Do you struggle to find artistic freedom in the span between commissioned work and your personal needs to express yourself?
SB: No. I don’t do commissioned work.

COL: What do you aspire to? In the near future? In life in general?
SB: To be free. To have my own studio so that I can paint more and on bigger surfaces. To be in motion.

COL: How do you feel art and fashion intervene?
SB: I have no clue about fashion.

COL: What is a great example of a fashion art collaboration in your view?
SB: Jif Universal spray and Sindre Braathen paintings.

COL: Where do you think art and fashion is heading in our digital age?
SB: To the North pole.