Galleri 7

Exhibition by Steen Karlsen and Johnny Madsen

Exhibition by Steen Karlsen and Johnny Madsen

Steen Karlsen was born in Frederikshavn in 1960. He is married to Gilda and together they have a son Frederik. Steen is also the stepfather of Sonny, Camilla and Ditte.

Steen Karlsen was educated at Frederikshavns Værft A/S in 1981 as a shipbuilder and spent a year at Ørskov Steel Shipyard, where he worked  until February 2003.

The 23 years of work with ship drawing and shipbuilding industry, together with the nature and life around Frederikshavn, have been the inspiration for Steen Karlsen's current career as a painter.

Steen Karlsen has painted and drawn all his life. In 1999, Steen Karlsen took the plunge and exhibited for the first time in public, which was a big leap for the shy and private painter. At that time, it was almost exclusively naturalistic motifs that he painted.

Gradually, painting took hold of him more and more and he began to experiment, to which he became more serious about it, which has meant  that the form of expression today is abstract, but with many recognizable brushstrokes.

Today, his livelihood is solely painting. He has gradually sold paintings to both private individuals, the public sector, companies, art dealers and art associations throughout Denmark. In addition, he has sold to a number of foreign customers throughout Europe and the United States.

On all of Steen Karlsen's paintings, his personal signature can be found , namely the 2 little blue people with white heads. The signature comes from an earlier series  of paintings he called "Family Pictures", where it was people with blue bodies and white faces who were depicted in different situations. 

Gradually, the characters were pushed aside a bit and ended up being tiny, though still to be found in all his paintings.

The viewer's general remark about his paintings is that you get in a good mood and feel joy when looking at the paintings. This is due to the always cheerful and friendly colors and motifs.

The gallery in Frederikshavn is open Saturday and Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm and by appointment on tel. 22 29 14 07.