"Tales of the Past and the Future", oil on linen, 60 x 70 cm, 2004

"Your art world is characterized by mysticism, dream, fantasy and dizziness...

…Your paintings are understandable, but are to be found in the big mysteries of life. Sometimes they seem unrealistic, yet they show a vivid reality. I can feel the Scandinavian culture from a surrealist impression, which calls enthusiasm to my mind. The Scandinavian touch emanates more from your expression than the contents. The darkness of your paintings is different than the heavy emotions in the films of Bergman or paintings of Munch. I can feel a shining darkness expressed in your own original way. It is not boundlessness, nor eternity that fills your paintings, but an emotion losing the will like stillness or absence of mind."

Those were the words from a Japanese critic during exhibitions in Japan, and this view is still a very true one, describing the recent works of Sonja Hindkjaer in a most excellent way.

Details from "Tales of the Past and the Future"

Sonja Hindkjaer was born in 1958 in the countryside by Silkeborg, Denmark, a farmer's daughter. Never the less it was also the home-town of one of Denmark's most famous artists Asger Jorn, the painter and cofounder of the COBRA movement. His brother was a frequent houseguest at the farm and, from the day she was born, the stories of these avant-garde artists were as normal a part of her life as the cows, the big woods and the lakes.

These stories were not the reason for her natural skills as an artist since the urge to express herself came, and is still coming, from within; regardless of what is, at the moment, modern in the art world.

"My artwork evolves from the turmoil of events and emotions I encounter on my way through life. Like a symbiosis of organic cells interacting with mine, tales of the past and the future arise…I have become a house of glass for others to see through to another level. Creating for me is not a wish but a command from within. It is not thought, but emotion! I'm not going to define or analyse my world of art, since I do not understand it completely myself"

Drawings, graphite on paper, 21 x 42 cm, 2004

Sonja Hindkjaer has a wide range of talents at her disposal and is not limited to the canvas only. For several years she created ideas and stage design for performances touring with a small group of performing artists and musicians.

"Purgatory", oil on linen, 80 x 100 cm, 2005

Details from the "Purgatory"

SONJA HINDKJAER C.V.

2005 Art & Math conference in Boulder, USA
2004 GA2004 Art & Science conference in Milan
2000 Always painting whenever possible
1998-2000 Various graphic designs
1998 Set design for "Drommemanden" by Vandrefalken
1997 Set design for "Fuglebyen" by Vandrefalken
1990 Theatre project with Zlatko Buric for Danish and immigrant children
1987-1990 Living in Zagreb. Creating set designs for performances with Zlatko Buric (known from the film "Dirty pretty Things"), establishing a Croatian cultural centre with exhi-bitions, performances, concerts etc., with artists from all over the world. Graphic design. Working as a cartoonist for Zagreb film (The company that created "Professor Baltha-zar").
1984-85 Member of a group of painters "Ravna"
1983-1985 Member of "Kvindegalleriet" in Copenhagen. A gallery with cultural manifestations, art exhibitions, literary mee-tings, performances etc.
1980-82 Scholarship (from the ministry of Education) for the Aca-demy of fine Arts in Zagreb, Croatia
1979 Academy of fine Art, Aarhus, DK
1978 Graphic School of Art, Aarhus, DK
1977 Graduating from Aarhus Statsgymnasium, DK
1958 Born on the 10th of December in Silkeborg, Denmark

EXHIBITIONS

Galleri Krogen, Silkeborg. S.A.K., Svendborg. Klostermoster, Svendborg. Kvindegalleriet/Zalon 5, Kbh. "New artists books", Malmø. Ridehuset, Århus. Galleri Klosterstræde, Kbh. Københavneren, Kbh. Biennale Slavonaca, Kroatien. Gallerija ESCE, Kroatien. Osijek Galerija, Kroatien. Bunkersudstilling, H.C. Ørstedsparken, Kbh. Kanonhallen, Kbh. Røde Kors Kulturhus, Kbh. Varmecentralen, Præstø. Yokohama, Tokyo, Nagoya, Japan. Danielkirken, Kbh. Kastrup Airport. Virklund Kirke, Silkeborg. Galleri Crossing, Kbh. Sala Barna Gallery, Barcelona. Gallery Paludan, Kbh. Artville, Kbh. Tegnemesse, Viborg. Frankfurter Buchmesse, Germany. Kunstmesse, Odense. GA2004, Milan, Italy. Art & Math Colerado, USA

Represented in the DADA-Base at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

drawing, graphite on paper

In later years writing has become a part of this creative soul and poetry is pouring out of her mind, some of which has also been put into music.

POETRY

…a snake in my mind
eating the words from my mouth
leaving holes.
Light shine trough
fills out the space
words aren't needed any more!
***

You came unbidden to my lips
forced your being into mine.
To endure such an extravagance
it takes a lifetime to recover.
***

Hallucinations

Walking home under the full moon
longing to see the vision of you somewhere.
Hoping you will take my hand and caress my life.
Forgive me for not stopping at reality, for not caring for the truth.

I wait in the darkness, for your shadow to lie down beside me.
We shall touch like vibrations from far away,
like lovers of passion regardless of the distance.
The whisper of you and me is like the spell from other planets.

Soundless waves marking the soft skin with tattoos never to be erased.
Drinking from a body I thought was yours,
yet it was all a deception, a mirror of hallucinations.
My soul flows into the circle of fantasy where we are lovers forever.

You never were a part of me; my wishes never came through.
Rays of tilted emotions makes my head dizzy.
Our hands were the only link to be remembered,
but the tiny moments turned into a grandiose tale.

***

A transcendental moment

There has been a flood of transcendental emotions.
Sensations of the body
like vast experiences of life,
beyond the sky,
beyond the ground.
They go to you my heart, as a train of organic cells.
Adventures to be discovered, waits for us in the blue light.

The touch of hands conceives ideas, not yet known to the public.
As we caress them, they dissolve into ions of fragmentary lights.
Lights we shall gather to create the tales
in immense globes from other spaces,
from other times not yet lived.

My darling take my hand and be lost forever!
The horizons disappears and we know of no limits,
the journey is stronger than life itself,
there is no end, no goal,
just the lights transforming with us.

We dance on the waves of sound from non-existing themes,
your body in mine, mine in yours
The fever becomes the normal state of mind
burning down the replica of earthy life.
It is a transcendental moment!

***

My son the soldier

I pray for my son to survive,
a soldier of need
never raised in terror,
fought the games of the world.

Will he stay alive
or give his body
to the ground?
My stomach is aching
heart is broken.

May he choose
the path to the right
forever to be saved.

Under the bricks so red
his body was found
his face twisted in two.

The soul of my son
looks down on me
-help me in the past
to prevent future accidents!

A spell was cast!
His hair burned
but his eyes so vivid
looks upon me with happiness

The breath from his mouth
warms my skin,
thank God
he is alive!

***

Circle of wolves

Power of lust
sweetness of love,
a forest so dark
that shadows are
betrayed by the moon

Mist on the road.
My naked body
dressed in pearls of dew
dance with the wolf,
its howl brings you to me.

Our minds are lost,
your body in mine
the shine of the moon
makes the circle of wolves.
My passion is yours.

The barren soil
will grow marks
of inconsistent love,
say no more
the mirror in the river
expels the story.

***

Drunken companions

Lost and bewildered
alone and naked.
Destiny strikes through,
blood from my mouth.

On the bed I lie
blanket around my shoulders,
the drunken companions
could not pay the bill.

No lodging, no home
restless on the boulevard,
existing in dreams
while reality takes me apart.

Sonja Hindkjaer 2005