It's been a wild few years for Frederik Næblerød since he graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2018. The demand for his art has been high, he has participated in several TV programmes, and both his private and professional life has been busy. At times probably too much speed, as he realised at some point. 

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In 2022, Frederik Næblerød held an exhibition with Jeppe Hein in Berlin. It was in Hein's studio, and this is where photographer Fredrik Clement first took pictures of Næblerød. Canvases were laid out on the floor and he painted with both brushes and hands. Music, Redbull, and speed. Paint, paint, paint. Back then, Næblerød painted with enamel paint, a paint that needs to be applied quickly as it hardens easily and therefore cannot be reworked over time. He let the thin paint run across the canvas so that the colours blended in murky transitions and the figures were enveloped in energetic compositions. Today, Næblerød paints with oil paint. But we'll come back to that. 

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Næblerød's new friendship with Jeppe Hein would turn out to be of great importance. The high speed and a little too much partying that characterised the years following his graduation from the Academy of Fine Arts were shelved, and he began to think about his art in new ways. On a trip to Amsterdam to create a mural for a private art collector, he took his parents with him. The focus was on work and not temptation. Many people looked after Frederik during this time.

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In the years before and after the exhibition at Hein's studio in Berlin, Næblerød had participated in numerous art fairs, gallery and museum exhibitions, including Gammel Holtegaard, Edition Copenhagen, Horsens Art Museum, and Vejle Art Museum. Art became his faithful companion through some difficult years, but the productivity never stopped despite Næblerød's personal change of pace in 2022. The studio in Sydhavnen became his safe space, a space where he could devote himself to his art and where he found peace and focus. From here, he wanted to show another side of the artist that the media had portrayed as wild and perhaps at times artistically rebellious. Næblerød experienced how scary and insecure it is not to be able to recognise yourself in the eyes of others. This is the danger of TV appearances. The sensationalism of the entertainment industry often wins out over the portrayal of the nuanced human being. That's the way it is. And peace be with it, Næblerød says today.

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A love of creativity and art has followed Næblerød since childhood. As a boy, he was more interested in creative subjects than academic ones, and he enjoyed drawing and painting. Throughout his adolescence, his interest in art continued and found expression through the skateboarding and graffiti scene. As an artist, however, he doesn't want to transfer street culture to the canvas, but to let painting be a place where everyday impressions can meet the images of the imagination. Næblerød says that he often starts a painting based on an idea or a particular context, but otherwise allows the reflection on what theme or motif he is actually working with to mature during the creative process. However, it is clear that he always works from a particularly "Næbleroed universe", where selected motifs recur, but are constantly reborn in new forms, media or materials. Fabulous animals, mythological creatures and people wearing hats, masks and costumes appear freely before the viewer, and his subjects offer themselves. They adorn themselves and endeavour to catch our attention, entertaining us with the thought of what stories they might be carrying. There is something carnival and masquerade about the grotesque and humorous characters in Næblerød's art, and in his visual language, a special carnivalesque and popular marketplace jargon is allowed to express itself.

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^{Frederik Næblerød. Photo: Kavian Borhani}

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When it comes to inspiration from the world of art, artists such as Pablo Picasso and Asger Jorn are at the top of the list, along with fellow contemporary painters such as Tal R and American Kathrine Bernhard. In addition, there is a love of art historical periods such as Surrealism and Expressionism, which, however, are reinterpreted by Næblerød through a special ‘bad painting style’, a naive figurative painting that, like the American artist Philip Guston, defies the classical canon of good taste and deliberately avoids the conventions of high culture.

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Today, Næblerød has replaced enamel paint with oil paint. Whereas enamel paint required a quick application, oil paint makes it possible to work on a painting over a longer period of time. It allows him to paint several works at a time, leave them for a while, think about the subjects and composition and then continue painting. He likes the thickness of oil paint, the way it gives structure and depth to the subjects and adds a tactility to the painting that he otherwise only finds in his ceramic work.

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It was in 2017, the year before he graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, that Næblerød started making ceramics. It still means a lot to him, and there are periods when he immerses himself in ceramics and forgets his primary medium, painting, for a while. During these periods, he can make twenty sculptures in two weeks, and as is the case with all the media he works in, he tries his hand intuitively and challenges the rules that normally apply when working with clay. It can happen that his ceramic works are deliberately modelled too thick because the weight of the material is important for the desired expression, or that the glaze is too thin because its irregularity is a desired effect. He makes art, not utility ceramics.

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Unpredictability motivates Næblerød in his artistic work, as in bronze casting and glaze firing, where he doesn't know in advance how things will look when they are finished. In ceramics, the colour of the glaze only reveals itself after firing, and who knows if the clay is too thick and cracks? He is comfortable with not having complete control and accepts the life of the materials and techniques. He simply tries again, does things differently and finds peace in the fact that things don't always work out on the first try. If a work doesn't work, it is unsentimentally discarded or painted over. This can also happen with works that he was initially happy with, but where a new idea needs to be tried out. Næblerød does not work with sketches either, but draws a lot. He considers the drawings to be independent works where he can try out new shapes or colour combinations, which can later reappear in other materials and media. 

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^{Frederik Næblerød. Photo: Kavian Borhani}

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In 2023, Næblerød started working in bronze. He wanted to create his work himself and not leave it to a professional foundry. He started learning the process of bronze casting, how to cut a mould out of polystyrene and cover it with wax, then pour acetone into the wax mould to etch away the polystyrene. The moulds need to be a specific thickness to avoid cracking when the hot bronze hardens. Next, create channels so that no air holes are created and the bronze reaches all parts of the mould. Finally, the liquid bronze is poured in. Næblerød loves the process, the fire in the foundry, the suits that protect the body, the liquid bronze that flows through the workshop like lava. It looks cool, like a witch's cauldron bubbling away.

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Getting to know new materials and techniques energises Næblerød, and he fearlessly experiments with traditional materials, very aware of their centuries-long art history. For Næblerød, experimentation is the driving force, and he invests himself and his time in methods that he has not yet mastered. He is inquisitive and curious, always in awe of the materials, but without letting it stop him. He is prepared to take a risk and potentially fail, but also to learn and improve his skills - an openness and curiosity that over the years has given him the energy to collaborate with a number of fellow artists, including Casper Aguila, Farshad Farzankia and Jeppe Hein.

Næblerød takes his art and craft seriously, but does so with the courage of a daredevil. It's never just for fun, but always about the pursuit of the good work of art.

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In his latest paintings, Næblerød is engaged in a more structured pictorial space than before. His paintings appear more graphic and two-dimensional, where the perspective is minimalistic and the elements of the image are arranged side by side or stacked, creating a sense of a simple but tightly packed scene in the works. The colours are still wild, sometimes jarring, but applied in large and saturated areas that support the structural and harmonious division of the canvas. Unlike the more chaotic compositions of the enamel paintings, Næblerød now uses colour as a structuring element, as when he applies a bottom through an elongated colour field at the bottom of the canvas or frames the motif between two vertical fields. The focus is on strengthening the presentation of the painting's motivic elements, which is also seen in his use of draped curtains and tents that delimit the central motif and direct the viewer's gaze towards what he considers central. In keeping with his penchant for the theatrical and ghoulish, Næblerød's paintings clearly set the stage for the characters' performances.

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Næblerød will probably always be an artist who refuses to stand still and who only stays in the moment as long as it doesn't taste stale. He will always seek out the ideas and experiments that lie ahead, and his curiosity will instinctively drive him to create new works, whether they are in ceramics, bronze, painting, graphics, drawing or something else entirely. His creative spontaneity and creative urge are also expressed in this book, where he has in several places drawn on the photographs Fredrik Clement has taken of him since 2022. This reworking appears as a natural gesture in a Næblerød universe where reality and fantasy are constantly mixed and where the artist's energy is always part of the work. Perhaps it has even been a necessity for Næblerød not only to allow himself to be portrayed, but to come up with his own take on the multidimensional reality that photography alone cannot capture. 

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ARKEN's Director Marie Nipper has written the foreword to a new photo book ‘Næblerød’ by Frederik Clement and Frederik Næblerød. The book costs 500 DKK and can be purchased in the museum shop.

You can experience Frederik Næblerød's solo exhibition here at the museum from 06.02.25 to 27.07.25.

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