Martin Stensaas – Hologram Scriptures

Jun 6, 2013 Daniel Mirante in Interviews 5 Comments Tags: Martin Stensaas

An interview with the painter Martin Stensaas

Sphinx/Daath. 90 x 120 cm, approx. for

Daniel Mirante :These whorling, dynamic, multidimensional scripture holograms that are currently your signature aesthetic – does this arise out of concept or perception?

Martin Stensaas : Well, These images come from both concept and perception. My first experiences with synesthesia were as a child, having fevers and out-of-body-experiences. In these experiences, knowledge and sensation and ideas became blended into the physical experience. I have returned to this aesthetic in my work more recently. I think the appeal of the synaesthetic look for many people is that it goes one big step closer to the fountain of all thought and feeling. Visionary states of consciousness often have these motifs, and for many viewers, the joining of the mental with the emotional and physical and spiritual is profoundly important to them. I know it is for me. Although my paintings cannot convey that fully, they are a starting place for these types of thoughts and feelings. More recently I have found that esoteric literature and tradition from many cultures has already mapped this terrain of the psyche… So for me it has also become more cerebral, even if it began spontaneously.

Daniel Mirante : The degree of layering in your work… the images seem composed of layers of whirling and evolving script, sigils and symbols. The excitement of discovery is visibly there. Could you describe the various states of being you go through as you create art and access such a state where these ‘fundamental languages’ are emerging through your process?

Martin Stensaas : My process, which develops through these layers, is definitely a discovery. I generally only have a theme, which I pray will permeate the work… And I meditate on the theme while working.
So the states of mind are cerebral at first, like choosing the theme, and then it becomes very intuitive and by feel. I get really enthralled with building the forms out of ribbons of this astral improvisational stuff. I tend to skirt overt symbolism to prevent locking in too soon. The imagery becomes symbolic anyway, when the viewer naturally interprets it. So I don’t avoid symbols, but I don’t rush into them. You said it right: about emerging fundamental language. I want to evoke that mind-stuff which begs symbolic representation and mental insight.

Daniel Mirante : This balancing act between crystallising form but holding back from ‘over-condensation’ is something you’ve mastered well in your work. Do you find in your ‘life style certain things that facilitate this type of contemplation and things that hinder it? Any advice for young artists?

Martin Stensaas by Todd Collins Photograph

Martin Stensaas : Thank you, Daniel, I feel like the balance is better now. My earlier work seems to me now overly constrained. My advice for young artists is go for it. Trust yourself. Let it grow. Don’t be stingey with yourself. Let music be a guide. Keep learning, keep questioning. Do your best. Ask questions of those who know. Study the old masters. Read a lot. Use what you need. You know, all that stuff that’s not in Art School

Daniel Mirante : Lets talk about your new work. Could you explain something a bit about your treatment of the archetypal sphinx, a theme visited by so many symbolist and mystical artists?

Martin Stensaas : Sphinx is an acrylic painting on canvas painted in 2013. This painting is part of a series of images inspired by meditations on themes and energies in the Qabbalistic system. The Sphinx represents a personification of Daath, the mobility of consciousness up and down the middle pillar of equilibrium.

Sphinx – Detail by Martin Stensaas

Archetypically, sphinx imagery in the Greek and Egyptian traditions serves as a guardian to the realm of the timeless and transcendent. Riddles and challenges posed by the Sphinx pertain to knowledge of time and timelessness, and failure to answer the riddle carries a penalty of being devoured. The mixture of chimerical imagery in the beast combines the human, the winged/spiritual, and the animal desires/feline predator.

Daniel Mirante :Fantastic. And also, you have visited another traditional theme this year, Pieta.

Martin Stensaas :This painting developed as a surprise… It began as many others do: open-ended freestyle underpainting with soft color areas. There was no definite structure or plan to it.

Oddly enough, I awoke one morning (the day the Pope resigned) having noticed that much of the composition was very much like Michelangelo’s famous Pieta sculpture. I looked it up and found that the composition was quite close, so I decided to go with that theme. I was surprised to be doing a Mary/Jesus theme… but it was also a continuation of the mystical themes of other recent paintings I have done.

“Pieta” by Martin Stensaas. Acrylic on Canvas. 37″ x 44″

In this painting, the classical theme’s gravity and pathos is giving way to a hypercharged atmosphere in which the figures become both more archetypally mask-like, and more angelic. The theme I explored has more to do with the constancy of death, sacrifice, and resurrection in the natural world. The lush jungle ravine is receiving the cleaned body of Christ. His feet dangle and dissolve in the cool water while the life force dissipates from the translucent supernatural corpse. Mary here embodies the supportive primal ground, the nature field which hosts this endless cycle… displaying both tenderness and resignation. She is depicted here as Our Lady of the Forest, cloaked in floral red, offering up the fruit of life for its continuation.

Daniel Mirante : Thank you for your time and sharing Martin. In great respect and admiration of this work.

External Links

www.martinstensaas.com