I was visiting my friend and colleague, Otto Frello. I had a lump of clay with me and made a couple of clay faces while chatting to him. They were a bit of fun and I feel like making a few more expressive nonsense faces 🙂 Watch this space:
Category Archives: Art
Seaside sketching
Filed under Art
Today was a strange day. I was at the beach in Amager – Copenhagen and had my sketchbook with me. First I went for at swim and it was lovely! Then I had the bright idea of trying to take a little canvas into the waves with me and draw them from within the water! I started the daunting task of painting the ever moving unsettled sea that would grip at my arm and tug at it. Is was an enjoyable challenge though, and the canvas was splashed many times underway.
Wave Height
As I went to shore too cold to do anymore, an unclear message was made through a megaphone apparently urging everyone out of the water because a bather seemed to have gone missing. Fire engines, divers, police and ambulance folk all got to work. Eventually the missing person was presumed to have made it out of the water unnoticed and things stepped down. I had been sketching all the happenings hoping that this was a false alarm and impressed at how serious the Danish emergency service took this possible case of drowning. At the time I was talking to someone about how slightly over the top it all looked if she had just sneaked out of the water without the lifeguards seeing her surface. Last I heard was, that it was probably a false alarm. I hope so, but this sketch really shows to what extent the Danish rescue service went, to save someone. Quite special to watch actually.
Rescue Mission, Amager
Sommer Solhverv som maleri
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Jeg blev bedt om at male et billede, der handlede om sommersolhverv. Jeg huskede, at der blev takket for ild, jord, luft og vand, så det var de elementer jeg representerede i mit maleri. Jeg brugte faktisk rigtig jord i malingen, og kul fra bålet. Jeg brændte selvfølgelig fingrene på det! Her er maleriet, som er noget mere abstrakt end det jeg plejer at lave:
Sommer solhverv 2014
About The Frelloist – English
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The Frelloist, 125x85cm, 2013-14,
Oil on MDF board,
LEAH MERETE ROBB, (1977)
Danish/Scottish Portrait artist Leah Merete Robb has enjoyed getting to know Otto and wife Stence during the past 5 years.
My initial awareness of Frello came via my uncle Finn Nesgaard, who handed me a documentary film about Otto he was involved in making back in 2000. In 2008 I visited the Frello family and discovered that Otto’s humour ran through his every conversation and therefore poured very effortlessly into his paintings. On this meeting I showed him portraits I was painting of people from Copenhagen’s alternative community, Christiania. He exclaimed, “but you can draw!” Our friendship and mutual respect led to my portrayal of one of the most humorous, imaginative and talented artists I’ve come across.
My portrait painting uses texture, illusion, printing and dribbling techniques, creating a visual tapestry of intrigue, like a detective story. I wish to draw to attention an artist I have been inspired by and who I believe deserves to be discovered by many more.
Lidt om Frelloisten – dansk
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FRELLOISTEN/THE FRELLOIST, Olie på MDF Plade, 125X85cm, 2013-14
En hyldest og fejring af mennesket Otto og maleren Frello
MALET AF LEAH MERETE ROBB, f. 1977
Den ‘nu kendte’ kunstner portrætteret af den ukendte kunstner:
Jeg har kendt Frello i fem år og var først og fremmest fascineret af personen, Otto – hans humor som siver igennem hver eneste samtale, og hans imødekommenhed og varme som menneske. Han er meget underholdende selskab.
Derefter kom hans enestående evne til at male. Frellos redskaber har ikke hæmmet ham – tvært i mod. De har givet ham overskud og gjort ham fri til at lege med opdigtede motiver og blandet tidsbilleder på sin unikke og humoristiske måde. Nutidens kunstscene har undervurderet håndværkets værdi.
Processen med portrættet af Frello har været en udfordring uden lige, men også en fantastisk leg hvor jeg fik mulighed for at leve mig ind i Frellos verden.
I mit maleri bruger jeg illusion, tekstur, dryp og print til at skabe nysgerrighed omkring emnet og håber Frelloisten kan være med til at sætte fokus på Danmarks store hemmelighed, kunstneren Otto Frello.
FRELLOISTEN ER TIL SALG UNDER AUKTION IND TIL AUGUST d. 31.
Bud foreslag – 75,000kr. (Kunstneren har sidste ord på evt. salg). Kontakt mig på email – leahrobb@rocketmail.com hvis maleriet har interesse. Seneste bud ligger på 25,000.00kr
Nærbillede af Frelloisten.
Frelloisten/The Frelloist – A portrait of Danish artist, Otto Frello
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Otto Frello is one of the most interesting artists I’ve come across. He started his career as an illustrator and drew hundreds of technical images for handbooks on various subjects. By doing this he gained a huge amount of knowledge about architecture, aircraft, plants, fashion, jewelry and what have you. He started to tire of drawing on demand and wanted the freedom of doing just what he wanted to do. His own paintings, which he started in the his late 40s are as far removed from the serious technical drawings from the handbooks as you could come, while still being technically excellent. If you meet the guy and experience his sense of humour, you will hardly understand how he managed to do serious drawings.
This is my portrait of him. It is meant to capture a number of his character traits and his invented characters. The backdrop is based on his painting “Three Jars”. This painting is currently on display in Copenhagen’s Roundtower (Rundetårn).
