Svein Koningen

Svein Koningen

Visual Artist | Australia

Creating began for me at the age 4 building a boat at my Dutch uncles Riva Boat factory in Amsterdam. My first gallery visit was age 3, visiting Rembrandt’s Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum… a rather daunting painting for a small child. Studying art and industrial design I quickly found abstract painting was a passion that continues today. A blank canvas becomes a story… the paint, the brush with the subconscious flow, all coming together creating on good days a vibrant abstract story on canvas. Exploring the relationship between colour combinations and texture, working intuitively using large palette knives then paring and scraping back paint revealing glimpses and stories within the larger abstract story. Heavy texture is the focus of the 2017 Paradisaea Series of seven paintings. The series is primarily abstract with the title being the name of the Birds of Paradise, from Papua New Guinea. The series title came after the completion of the works and seeing the colourful abstract birds in flight. Change is a constant in my work and my life with movement the place to live giving new experiences which of course comes alive on the canvas in the studio. Moving my studio from Noosa Heads Australia to Bruges, Belgium and now, back to Australia. Moving forward with a new studio is once again the challenge with a blank canvas.

View his Artonique exclusive interview here: https://www.artonique.com/pages/svein-koningen