Henrik Uldalen
Henrik Aa. Uldalen (b. 1986, South Korea) was raised in Norway and spent time in Barcelona, Florence and Mexico City before moving to England in 2015. Uldalen is a self-taught expressionist artist. Developing his style and technique for over 12 years, his creative production combines contemporary edge through abstract impasto with the traditional, through classic, figurative painting.
Uldalen examines the darker sides of life, yet this nihilism, longing and loneliness are juxtaposed by a fragile beauty in his works. The artist’s practice is self-reflexive such that painting helps Uldalen to better understand himself, expressing, “I paint because I need to paint. I have always had things in my life that I need to work out, and I’ve found that the best way is to take it out in the studio.” In turn, his works are conceived as self-portraits projected onto models. The pieces themselves are not overtly narrative; rather, he invites the viewer to build their own, perhaps through introspection.
Uldalen chooses to focus instead on emotional and metaphysical content through his figuration. A prevailing motif of eyes that are covered, shut, and smudged is symbolic of struggle and inner turmoil. Yet at the same time, Uldalen conveys a beautiful sense of corporeality and physicality through his figures. The result: pieces that truly express body and soul.
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Inorganic – This is a version of Burnt Umber that has heavier and more red-brown undertones than the raw umber variant. This is the colour in its presentation from the last two centuries, invaluable for underpainting and showing a range of sandy pinks in hues.
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Inorganic – Yellow Ochre is a higher-keyed and more green-gold shade of manufactured Iron Oxide. Its hues yield mustardy yellows quite close to Genuine Naples Yellow Dark. No. 119 possesses an almost viscous texture and is a lovely colour for flesh tones, landscapes, and non-figurative works.
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Titanium White No. 1 is the most brilliant white in my range, suitable for crisp, cool, opaque, light shades. If you want a powerful mixer that lightens , then this is it. Although not subtle, this white is the most suitable for a bright, fresh palette. It forms a strong and durable film when cured. PW6 is an inorganic pigment.
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Inorganic – My Cadmium Red is a powerful, orange shade red with the usual cadmium characteristics of high tint power and opacity. This red presents warm, almost fiery hues when mixed with a more transparent white.
A sophisticated dark yellowish-green blended from PR101 (Iron Oxide Red), PY74 (Arylide Yellow), and PB15.3 (Phthalo Blue GS). Combining organic and inorganic pigments, Olive Green is fast-drying, semi-transparent, and exhibits excellent lightfastness. With high tinting strength and strong coverage, it’s perfect for landscapes, foliage, and botanical studies.
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Organic, Natural Earth – So named because it was originally derived from the soot of oil lamps, this is pure Carbon and probably the first pigment our ancestors ever used to decorate their caves. Lamp Black is a soft, slightly warm shade whose surface gives it a greyish aspect. It’s probably not the best choice for unmixed underpainting because of its tendency to move while drying, but this can be remedied with the addition of good-drying Earths. Lamp Black tends to dry with a matte finish, which can be compensated for with the addition of a little stand oil.
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Organic – Alizarin Crimson is the oldest synthetic, organic lake introduced in 1868, and the only lake of the coal-tar lake range to have survived in use until the present. Before the end of the 19th-century, other Lakes were found too impermanent, and some Amerian authorities frown on Alizarin because its lightfastness (II-III on the ASTM scale) doesn’t match that of more recent organic red pigments. But its clarity and subtly beautiful bluish undertones are unique; since its introduction, portraitists have prized its range of cool, rather smoky hues, which are well suited for Caucasian tones. If you have concerns about using Alizarin Crimson, try mixing transparent oxide red with magenta for “look-alike” oil paint, or use Alizarin Claret.
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Inorganic – Cobalt stannate was introduced in 1870 under the name ‘Cerulean’, i.e. sky-blue, in imitation of a Roman pigment of that name. It’s a subtle, greyish turquoise that discerning painters value for its mild hues for landscapes and seascapes. No. 602 is a gorgeous, unique blue with excellent covering power.
Gamsol is the safest solvent that allows oil painters to utilise all traditional painting techniques without compromise.
Primary Uses for Gamsol:
Thinning oil colours. A little goes a long way; stiff oil colours relax immediately when a little Gamsol is added. Be careful not to thin oil colours too much with solvent alone, this can compromise the ability of the paint to form a paint film.
Modifying painting mediums. Gamblin's Galkyd line of painting mediums is formulated with Gamsol, so they readily accept Gamsol as a thinning agent. Note: Gamsol should not be added to painting mediums made with natural resins (dammar, copal, mastic). They require strong solvents such as turpentine.
Studio clean up: brushes, palettes, palette knives, etc.
How does Gamsol achieve this level of performance and safety? Most solvents available to artists come from the industrial paint industry where solvent power and cheapness is prized. Gamsol is special: it is made for products and processes that come into more intimate contact with the body such as cosmetics, hand cleaners, and cleaning food service equipment.
Gamsol is a petroleum distillate but all the aromatic solvents have been refined out of it, less than .005% remains. Aromatic solvents are the most harmful types of petroleum solvents.
These facts are detailed in the MSDS for Gamsol, this document shows that it has an Exposure Limit Value higher than most solvents available to artists.
All of these factors have lead to Gamsol being used widely in oil painting classrooms; in those classes there are no solvent odours, only the wonderful smell of oil colours.
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Inorganic – Cadmium Sulphide is a dense, lean, mid-shade warm yellow, indispensable as a foundation colour for warm mixes of all kinds.
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Inorganic – No. 113 is an obviously beautiful mid-blue. The discovery in the 1820s of a Sodium Sulphosilicate compound, which had appeared as a mysterious blue deposit on soda-ash furnaces, was a liberating moment for financially challenged artists everywhere. Up to then the only available version of this compound was the often-unobtainable Lapis Lazuli ore, mined in Afghanistan. Ultramarine has a high tint power, and our chosen shade produces strong green shade blue hues and makes wonderful violets with Magenta and the red Lake colours. It is also useful in greens and greys. The only chemical weakness is a recorded sensitivity to atmospherically borne acids, which can bleach it out. Ultramarine Blue is one of the more difficult paints to make, as it forms an intractable runny syrup when first ground into oil, which must then be stabilized with a small amount of wax.