Metamorphosis. Oil and oxidised silver on canvas, 200 x 140 cm

Metamorphosis. Oil and oxidised metal leaves on canvas

Oil and oxidized metal leaf on canvas. 50 x 50 cm

Oil and oxidized metal leaf on canvas

Oil and metal leaf on canvas. 45 x 70 cm

Oil and oxidized metal leaf on canvas

Oil and oxidized metal leaf on canvas

Oil on canvas. 100 x 100 cm

Metamorphose

Oil and metal leaf on canvas. 50 x 50 cm

Oil and oxidized metal leaf on canvas

Metamorphose 

The Metamorphosis addresses transformations, changes and the developmental processes that generate new contexts. I try to visualize the borderland between the human process of building and nature’s process of decomposition. In this borderland, I find the beauty of transience.

Elements of decay and consumption become apparent as do glimpses of their erosion in the image compositions. These changes represent the transience of life or, vanitas, as if it were a contemporary still life. In glimpses, there are subtle shifts, openings that reveal basic forces of construction and destruction, like a shutter that opens and presents the viewer with a new dimension.

Gradually I have become more concerned with the spatial possibilities offered by the surfaces characteristics. I work with metallic leaves that have the alchemical property of changing character under chemical processes.This gives the pictures a particular surface that blends seamlessly with the underlying oil painting. A metamorphosis.

Anne Maria Udsen. 2010