Henrik Uldalen is a London based artist well known for his emotionally-charged oil paintings of figures, often appearing weightless and diminishing into the background.”My work is based on abstract ideas of existentialism and nihilism, and on loneliness and numbness,” he says. “They’re fairly loose ideas, as they’re a direct translation of my changing emotional states.” We first featured Uldalen on the cover of Hi-Fructose Vol. 24, and here on our blog, where we’ve seen the artist progress from a more realistic, yet ethereal style to experimenting with abstraction.
On Saturday at Last Rites Gallery in New York, Uldalen will debut his latest series in “Rapture”, perhaps his most expressive and loosely-painted works to date. His portraits are an attempt, he says, “to be truer to himself”: “This series works out a handful of seemingly personal but universal conflicts- from the navel gazing of Narcissus, hypnotized by his own reflection, to the struggles of mythological creatures such as the Minotaur- each indicative of a peculiar state of mind.”
“My art has evolved quite a bit, since I started out painting. I was heavily influenced by classical representational art and Norwegian fairy tales. As a result, the paintings I made back then might be classified as “anachronistic.” While I’m still fascinated by classical art, I have moved away from neo-classical figuration- perfectionism- although what has not changed is the emotional impact my paintings are meant to have on viewers.” Henrik Uldalen’s “Rapture” will be on view from May 14th through July 3rd, 2016.
Atlanta-based sculptor 
After visiting the Chinese village where generations of his family had lived, sculptor 