A View from the Easel during Times of Quarantine
By: Elisa Wouk Almino
This is the 191st installment of a series in which artists send in a photo and a description of their workspace. In light of COVID-19, we’ve asked participants to reflect on how the pandemic has impacted their studio space and/or if their work process has changed while quarantining. Want to take part? Please submit your studio! Just check out the submission guidelines.
Alexander Tovborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
“Welcome. To my studio. Welcome. To the church. Like any, it mirrors the believer. Me. I am it all. When I am here, I am the creator, the communicator, and the moral. A metamorphosis of the holy trinity. Mine. The studio is always there for me, carrying me, and crusading my every cause. There, through every part of the process, every layer of paint, manifesting my every vision. Sacrificing it all. And everything for me. This sanctuary and monastery, it exists for me. My Eden, my heavens, purgatory, and inferno. My gateways and portals. All in one and at once.”
This is an excerpt from a longer piece I wrote during the quarantine, which reflects my interest in origins and contemporary iterations of symbology, mysticism, and religious archetypes. In 2020, I have been deeply grateful for my studio, to have one, and to be able to paint. In August my family was blessed with the birth of our daughter. Since her birth, I have been painting portraits of her and my wife — Madonna. My studio, both isolated and open, has been relatively active. The studio is me, sometimes the whole family, and when possible, it is friends and colleagues — where we listen, share, learn, and act.