1963 Oil Painting by Paul Janus Ipsen

Paul Janus Ipsen, is a painter, sculptor and graphic artist. Born in 1936 in Copenhagen, the artist went on to live in the USA for a number of years, eventually returning to Denmark. The artist has produced a large body of work throughout his career and has exhibited widely, from his debut at Charlottenborg’s Spring Exhibition 1962, to more recently at Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art.

In this oil on canvas, we are presented with rich surfaces and a colour palette of muted, warm tones. The textural quality of the painting has been built through thick layers of oils and visible brush marks, with areas of unmixed paint creating depth and expressing rawness. The artist appears to be interested in how paint can be used to explore the relationship between light and form. Warm light appears to softly illuminate the contours of the spherical forms and immediately draws our eye to the glowing centre of the composition.