Hans Kristian Borchgrevink Hansen (1985) works in different formats, materials and techniques. For Borchgrevink Hansen, film, books, found objects and drawing become part of his universe of wonder. The artist explores his surroundings and stops at the everyday. Through his motifs, we are fascinated by the smallest things. The obvious question is whether we influence our surroundings, or whether it is our surroundings that influence us? Borchgrevink Hansen sees what the rest of us overlook. Form and color are drawn in detail and the result is a surreal everyday realism that gives associations to something dreamlike. Borchgrevink Hansen grew up in Finnskogen and now works from Oslo. He has been a member of Tegnerforbundet since 2012. More information about Hans Kristian Borchgrevink Hansen here.
TF : Hans Kristian, can you tell us a little about your artistic practice?
HKBH: I work with photos, films and books. And in these formats, I often take as my starting point what I have on hand and explore my immediate surroundings to see something supposedly familiar in a new way. I seek to sense the world through the smallest details. I try to proceed cautiously, take the motives seriously and give them the attention they deserve. I do not want to shape what I find according to predetermined ideas, but to the extent possible let me be guided by the inherent properties of the material. In the process, I am a passive artist. Using such methods, I try to rediscover our surroundings, and uncover the infinite richness of detail that surrounds us wherever we are.
TF: How do you use drawing in your work? Tell us a little about your work process!
HKBH: My work process is often a bit chaotic. I like that things flow a little both in the studio and mentally, and that in this chaos I lose the overview and the possibility of strict long-term plans. This is how I like to work on many projects at the same time, or that there are many started drawings strewn around, often old ones that I have completely forgotten the point of, which I can then pick up and add something to a sudden whim. This network of elements gradually forms a kind of internal logic between them where the images can help each other along the way.
I like to stock up on things I can use at work, such as various drawing tools and pieces of paper that can be used later. Such as pencil pieces from ikea or post-it notes from various pharmaceutical companies. I think most of what I find can be used as material if I can only manage it in the right way. The defects of these materials have guidelines in them that affect what is later made of it. In a way, I feel that I am collaborating with the materials and that I am helping them on their way to reaching their full potential.
TF: What inspires you? Do you work from a theme?
HKBH: I can have quite specific starting points. Now, for example, I am working on a decoration for a restored country store in Hjartdal, where I have been asked to take as a starting point a pile of scrap metal that has been in the attic. I find such starting points inspiring.
Otherwise, I am largely inspired by exhibitions, books and films, some examples are Nina Hedenius's Gubben i stugan from 1996 or the film Finnskog og Trollskap from 1956. I am also inspired by going on unplanned trips, outside or inside.
TF: What are you currently working on?
HKBH: Last winter I received two large boxes, one with charcoal and one with pastel, from a colleague who was moving to Haugalandet. So now I have started to make bigger and bigger charcoal drawings with small color elements in pastel.
I will also start with a film with elements of animation from the abandoned croft Halvortjernsberget, it has been empty for about 50 years and is on its way to being brought back to nature. The houses are in a transitional phase. The people and their presence fade out and other residents move in with their own projects, such as building nests or gnawing on mattresses. Windows are smashed, soot stoves are stolen by itinerant gangs who sell them at dingy utility auctions.
TF: What does drawing (drawing) mean for you / your work?
HKBH: I draw as usual, in the sketchbook or on my mobile phone, so I feel natural to draw even when I'm in the studio. When I write or speak, it often becomes more incoherent and incomplete, but when I draw, it somehow finds a kind of natural and effortless place in the world. And there are few things that make me look so thoroughly at my surroundings, as when I sit down to draw.
TF: Tell us a little about your work in Tegnerforbundet's sales department!
HKBH: In the Norwegian Drawing Centers' sales department, I have a drawing that shows the polishing of a spectacle lens. It's almost a kind of still life, at least a quiet life. At the bottom of the surface you can see the polishing pad in black silk folding around the glass and folding down like a classic drapery. In the background is a cloud study. The glasses themselves are a Swedish Lindberg frame in titanium. The drawing is called Brilledugg. The dew has obviously been polished away, I have plans to make a new and even larger version of the motif where the image of the dew itself will have a larger place. It will be a nice challenge to draw dew in a fast and convincing way - perhaps in a kind of rubbed-Gerhard-Richter manner. We'll see.
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