Artist of the Month; Hans Krull.

I've been on something of a break from my blog of late, mostly because I've been seduced by Battlefield 3, and I've spent most evenings being defeated by nimble fingered teenagers unburdened by any expectations of realism and with lightning reflexes. Unfortunately this has meant I have not put pencil to paper much either, nor have I cared to indulge my aesthetic tastes at all.

Today however, I had the good fortune to peruse some new paintings by my favourite local artist; Hans Krull. Having met and spoken to the man on a couple of occaisions, I tend to view Krull in a much more favourable light than the rest of the world seems to do. Granted he is moderately successful, but his art doesn't seem to get the respect I feel it deserves from the so called 'artistic community'. This is a great pity for in my mind, Hans Krull is without a doubt the best artist working in Aarhus today, and may probably be the best artist in Denmark too (not least since Kurt Trampedach disapeared into his obsession with baby faced dwarves).



Krull's genius appears to be two fold. First, he is an excellent draughtsman who uses a traditional style invoking wood cuts and comic art, and second, he works mostly with figures, human or animal or hybrids of the two. He is also colourful, full of imagination and uses just the right amount of the erotic to inspire his audience. His imagery spans mythological and folk tale subjects and combines abstract dream scapes with myriad details. He is also prolific.



Though I can't claim to know him, I found him to be charming, down to Earth and generous (he once gave me a drawing he was playing with, simply because I stopped to admire it). In Aarhus, Krull is well known both for three sculptures outside the big hotel on the city's central plaza, and because he just happens to own a cafe called 'Under Masken' in the basement of the same building. If you are ever in Aarhus during the summer, its well worth a visit as Krull can often be seen sitting outside the cafe, drawing or painting and I always pause to see what he's doing when I see him there.