Page 164 - Famous

BJØRN ERIKSEN

Lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark
w w w.body tic.dk

The Fly Eater, - a mental product of our time Bjørn Eriksen is a mature looks like a fly catcher connected to the ear is shut and turned vertically.
artist, born in 1957. At the age of seven he was fascinated by Picasso’s What is worth talking about. No wonder that Eriksen paints the silence
Guernica, in which the spirit shaped as a shaken and sad young person of a human being, as he says. But he cannot stand it, perhaps because
with a candle in his hand, together with a terrified, wounded horse, sees of the emptiness in it. He cannot remain passive. If he did he would be
how a brutal bull, symbolizing the dominating oppressing powers of our living dead. He has to do something.
time, has slain the future formed as a child. As a result, the mother cries Therefore, he paints, paints, paints the silence – manically. Does the
out her sorrow and anger to the bull’s face. silence appear due to lack of intimacy? If so it is not enough. Therefore,
The horse is Pegasus of the art and Eriksen has vanished into it and he he has started eating flies. But they do not taste good. The Fly Eater is
has never returned. Can you stand beside your time? Yes! You can. You now looking like a man with increased blood pressure. Literally, he is red
can be neutral. But then, how can you make anything but decorative in his face. I paint mental conditions, says Eriksen. Is that a permanent
and abstract geometric art. There is enough of this. But Eriksen has also condition?
sensed something: it is about holding on to the light and not give up on Of course his blood pressure has increased. The flies are all the same.
reality – though it is tough. The man who has fought the bull on the back They taste all the same. They taste of nothing. There is nothing red and
of Pegasus is surely lying dead on the ground but with a little flower in juicy and passionate and lovely to taste and digest so he just swallows the
his hand. He succeeded in making his art. flies. The flies are all the people of our time who buzz around and push
How does Eriksen’s flower look like? He paints in an expressive style that all other people away, say what others say and suck a little bitter sweat
makes a strong impact. It consists of lonely faces. No wonder. Yet they juice from the surface but never go below the surface. The Fly Eater is
deny to give up. Some hide behind masks. It is difficult to reveal yourself. not satisfied with eating them. On the contrary, he is starting to look like
One is looking to the sky saying “I don’t care”. But that is not enough for them and his body degenerates. It is hidden in the blue nothing, in some
most of his faces. It is not enough for “The Fly Eater”. He performs on water perhaps, while he is stretching his long, far too thin neck to make
an abstract, dark blue background fading into the black into which he is contact with another just as skinny and spiritually starving face.
looking. We live in a dark, unconscious time. Who does not recognize the Fly Eater in himself? Is it possible to find
Eriksen is The Fly Eater. But not only. The Fly Eater represents many somebody with whom to share a rich life? Who will make the Fly Eater
artists and people of today. But he is not a narcissist – like many others. joyful? Who will open his heart and reveal something below the surface,
He is curious to the word. I would like to move my limits, brake them something real to make the Fly Eater spit out the flies and start looking
down, as Eriksen says. But how, when the world has become so black. for the human touch still left inside us.
How can I paint anything but the despair of people’s eyes. But for him Before that happens, the Fly Eater will not become a real human being.
this is not enough. Is this not the real message in the painting. Is this not what Eriksen will
He keeps looking for something. And the ear stands out to sense tell us – and himself? If this does not happen, then what? Will his faces
something worth talking about. But the mouth in the middle of what and mankind have to go on alone?
Leo Tandrup

 THE FLY EATER, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 24X21 IN. / 60X54 CM.

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