Vi använder cookies för att ge dig bästa möjliga upplevelse. Välj vilka cookies du tillåter.
Läs mer i vår integritetspolicy
Jörgen Thornberg
Silhouettes at Sunset, 2024
Digital
50 x 70 cm
Silhouettes of fire
Above Hydronetta’s rocky shore,
In August’s golden glow, just past the day,
Dark silhouettes in evening’s lore,
Stand close as the light begins to sway.
Their shadows stretch across the stone,
While waves caress the pebbled strand,
They share a kiss as if they were alone,
when twilight wraps the quiet land.
They gaze upon the sun’s last fire,
It's crimson sinking in the sea,
Their hearts aligned with pure desire,
As nightfall whispers, “Let it be.”
With fingers laced, they face the West,
The colours fade, the night takes hold,
Yet in their eyes, a love confessed,
Burns brighter than the evening’s gold.
The sun dips low, its warmth withdrawn,
But Helios promises a new day’s light,
While they, beneath the coming dawn,
Embrace the peace of the falling night.
For though the sun will rise once more,
To paint the sky in morning’s grace,
The full moon tonight will soon explore,
And light the dark with a gentle trace.
She’ll rise and cast her silver glow,
On lovers wrapped in midnight’s charm,
Their silhouettes in moonlight’s flow,
A tender dance, so still, so warm.
Hydra, August 2024
A silhouette is as beautiful as it can be viewed at Hydronetta at an August sunset one minute before 8 pm. The picture is a contour of some happy people and a profile of Hydra evenings.
The name Silhouette traces back to the mid-18th-century French finance minister Etienne de Silhouette. His name was synonymous with doing things cheaply. It cost him less not to fill in the details, so he contented himself with the outline. Silhouettes were trendy during the end of the 1700s and the beginning of the 19th century. Don’t misunderstand. Details on Hydra matter because beauty is everywhere, but I decided to focus on the sun in this case.
Silhouettes, or the art of using outlines and shadows, have been around for a long time and can be found in various cultures throughout history. It’s fascinating to think about how different civilisations have used this technique, even if they didn’t have a specific name for it like we do today.
Take ancient Greece, for instance. You can see the use of silhouettes in their pottery, especially in those famous black-figure vases. The artists would paint figures in solid black against the natural red clay, creating these striking silhouettes. This technique was all the rage between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, long before the more detailed red-figure style took over. They didn’t have a specific word for “silhouette” back then, but they understood how to play with light and shadow, something they called "skias," to add depth and drama to their art.
The Romans, who always borrowed good ideas from the Greeks, also picked up on this. You see it in their frescoes and mosaics, where figures are often depicted with an emphasis on their outline. It’s not as simple as Greek black-figure pottery, but the contour is still focused, especially in light and shadow scenes. And then there are the cameos and intaglios—those tiny reliefs carved into gemstones. They’re like little silhouettes, showing off profiles simply and incredibly detailedly.
But silhouettes, or at least the idea of using outlines, go back even further. Prehistoric artists did it in caves like Lascaux in France or Altamira in Spain. They used simple outlines and filled shapes to depict animals and humans, giving a sense of movement and life that’s still impressive today. They even made stencils—have you ever seen those handprints on cave walls? They blew pigment around their hands, leaving behind a perfect silhouette.
Jumping over to the Americas, the Incas were masters of abstract and geometric forms in their textiles and pottery. Their art often used bold outlines and simplified shapes to convey meaning, not exactly like the European silhouette but close enough in spirit. The Aztecs, too, used strong outlines in their codices and carvings. Their gods, animals, and other figures were depicted in ways that highlighted their contours, almost like a silhouette, but with a focus on symbolic representation.
Silhouettes have also been a longstanding feature in Indigenous and Aboriginal art. For instance, Aboriginal Australians have been creating what they call 'X-ray' paintings for thousands of years. These paintings depict animals and humans with strong outlines, sometimes even showing internal organs. It’s a unique blend of silhouette and detail that has stood the test of time. Similarly, in Native American art, particularly their rock carvings and paintings, silhouettes have been used for generations to tell stories and mark territory.
Now, let's journey to East Asia, where silhouettes take on a rich cultural significance. In China, shadow puppetry has been a beloved art form for centuries. When projected onto a screen, the intricate figures they create transform into dramatic silhouettes that narrate myriad stories. In Japan, the art of Kiri-e, or paper cutting, is another testament to the cultural richness of silhouettes. This technique, which involves creating images by cutting out paper to form beautiful silhouettes, has been practised for ages and remains popular today. The use of silhouettes on Chinese and Japanese porcelain, where the outlines of figures are accentuated against contrasting backgrounds to create elegant designs, underscores the cultural diversity and artistic techniques of silhouette use in East Asia.
Even today, many Indigenous cultures continue using silhouettes in their art. In West Africa, for example, traditional masks often focus on the outline of a face or figure, creating a striking, powerful, and meaningful silhouette. In South America, especially among Amazonian tribes, body painting often incorporates silhouettes, highlighting a person's or animal's outline in artistic and symbolic ways.
It’s truly awe-inspiring to consider how this simple technique of using outlines and shadows has been such a versatile tool for artists throughout history. Silhouettes have transcended cultures and eras, serving as a powerful means to convey form, movement, and emotion. Their minimalistic elegance resonates today, inspiring us to appreciate and celebrate the enduring appeal of silhouettes in art history.
Jörgen Thornberg
Silhouettes at Sunset, 2024
Digital
50 x 70 cm
Silhouettes of fire
Above Hydronetta’s rocky shore,
In August’s golden glow, just past the day,
Dark silhouettes in evening’s lore,
Stand close as the light begins to sway.
Their shadows stretch across the stone,
While waves caress the pebbled strand,
They share a kiss as if they were alone,
when twilight wraps the quiet land.
They gaze upon the sun’s last fire,
It's crimson sinking in the sea,
Their hearts aligned with pure desire,
As nightfall whispers, “Let it be.”
With fingers laced, they face the West,
The colours fade, the night takes hold,
Yet in their eyes, a love confessed,
Burns brighter than the evening’s gold.
The sun dips low, its warmth withdrawn,
But Helios promises a new day’s light,
While they, beneath the coming dawn,
Embrace the peace of the falling night.
For though the sun will rise once more,
To paint the sky in morning’s grace,
The full moon tonight will soon explore,
And light the dark with a gentle trace.
She’ll rise and cast her silver glow,
On lovers wrapped in midnight’s charm,
Their silhouettes in moonlight’s flow,
A tender dance, so still, so warm.
Hydra, August 2024
A silhouette is as beautiful as it can be viewed at Hydronetta at an August sunset one minute before 8 pm. The picture is a contour of some happy people and a profile of Hydra evenings.
The name Silhouette traces back to the mid-18th-century French finance minister Etienne de Silhouette. His name was synonymous with doing things cheaply. It cost him less not to fill in the details, so he contented himself with the outline. Silhouettes were trendy during the end of the 1700s and the beginning of the 19th century. Don’t misunderstand. Details on Hydra matter because beauty is everywhere, but I decided to focus on the sun in this case.
Silhouettes, or the art of using outlines and shadows, have been around for a long time and can be found in various cultures throughout history. It’s fascinating to think about how different civilisations have used this technique, even if they didn’t have a specific name for it like we do today.
Take ancient Greece, for instance. You can see the use of silhouettes in their pottery, especially in those famous black-figure vases. The artists would paint figures in solid black against the natural red clay, creating these striking silhouettes. This technique was all the rage between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, long before the more detailed red-figure style took over. They didn’t have a specific word for “silhouette” back then, but they understood how to play with light and shadow, something they called "skias," to add depth and drama to their art.
The Romans, who always borrowed good ideas from the Greeks, also picked up on this. You see it in their frescoes and mosaics, where figures are often depicted with an emphasis on their outline. It’s not as simple as Greek black-figure pottery, but the contour is still focused, especially in light and shadow scenes. And then there are the cameos and intaglios—those tiny reliefs carved into gemstones. They’re like little silhouettes, showing off profiles simply and incredibly detailedly.
But silhouettes, or at least the idea of using outlines, go back even further. Prehistoric artists did it in caves like Lascaux in France or Altamira in Spain. They used simple outlines and filled shapes to depict animals and humans, giving a sense of movement and life that’s still impressive today. They even made stencils—have you ever seen those handprints on cave walls? They blew pigment around their hands, leaving behind a perfect silhouette.
Jumping over to the Americas, the Incas were masters of abstract and geometric forms in their textiles and pottery. Their art often used bold outlines and simplified shapes to convey meaning, not exactly like the European silhouette but close enough in spirit. The Aztecs, too, used strong outlines in their codices and carvings. Their gods, animals, and other figures were depicted in ways that highlighted their contours, almost like a silhouette, but with a focus on symbolic representation.
Silhouettes have also been a longstanding feature in Indigenous and Aboriginal art. For instance, Aboriginal Australians have been creating what they call 'X-ray' paintings for thousands of years. These paintings depict animals and humans with strong outlines, sometimes even showing internal organs. It’s a unique blend of silhouette and detail that has stood the test of time. Similarly, in Native American art, particularly their rock carvings and paintings, silhouettes have been used for generations to tell stories and mark territory.
Now, let's journey to East Asia, where silhouettes take on a rich cultural significance. In China, shadow puppetry has been a beloved art form for centuries. When projected onto a screen, the intricate figures they create transform into dramatic silhouettes that narrate myriad stories. In Japan, the art of Kiri-e, or paper cutting, is another testament to the cultural richness of silhouettes. This technique, which involves creating images by cutting out paper to form beautiful silhouettes, has been practised for ages and remains popular today. The use of silhouettes on Chinese and Japanese porcelain, where the outlines of figures are accentuated against contrasting backgrounds to create elegant designs, underscores the cultural diversity and artistic techniques of silhouette use in East Asia.
Even today, many Indigenous cultures continue using silhouettes in their art. In West Africa, for example, traditional masks often focus on the outline of a face or figure, creating a striking, powerful, and meaningful silhouette. In South America, especially among Amazonian tribes, body painting often incorporates silhouettes, highlighting a person's or animal's outline in artistic and symbolic ways.
It’s truly awe-inspiring to consider how this simple technique of using outlines and shadows has been such a versatile tool for artists throughout history. Silhouettes have transcended cultures and eras, serving as a powerful means to convey form, movement, and emotion. Their minimalistic elegance resonates today, inspiring us to appreciate and celebrate the enduring appeal of silhouettes in art history.
Jörgen Thornberg
Malmö
Lite om bilder och mig. Translation in English at the end.
Jag är en nyfiken person som ser allt i bilder, även det jag fäster i ord, gärna tillsammans för bakom alla mina bilder finns en berättelse. Till vissa bilder hör en kortare eller längre novell som följer med bilden.
Bilder berättar historier. Jag omges av naturlig skönhet, intressanta människor och historia var jag än går. Jag använder min kamera för att dokumentera världen och blanda det jag ser med vad jag känner för att fånga den dolda magin.
Mina bilder berättar mina historier. Genom mina bilder, tryck och berättelser. Jag bjuder in dig att ta del av dessa berättelser, in i ditt liv och hem och dela min mycket personliga syn på vår värld. Mer än vad ögat ser. Jag tänker i bilder, drömmer och skriver och pratar om dem; följaktligen måste jag också skapa bilder. De blir vad jag ser, inte nödvändigtvis begränsade till verkligheten. Det finns en bild runt varje hörn. Jag hoppas att du kommer att se vad jag såg och gilla det.
Jag är också en skrivande person och till många bilder hör en kortare eller längre essay. Den följer med tavlan, tryckt på fint papper och med en personlig hälsning från mig.
Flertalet bilder startar sin resa i min kamera. Enkelt förklarat beskriver jag bilden jag ser i mitt inre, upplevd eller fantiserad. Bilden uppstår inom mig redan innan jag fått okularet till ögat. På bråkdelen av ett ögonblick ser jag vad jag vill ha och vad som kan göras med bilden. Här skall jag stoppa in en giraff, stålmannen, Titanic eller vad det är min fantasi finner ut. Ännu märkligare är att jag kommer ihåg minnesbilden långt efteråt när det blir tid att skapa verket. Om jag lyckas eller inte, är upp till betraktaren, oftast präglat av en stråk av svart humor – meningen är att man skall bli underhållen. Mina bilder blir ofta en snackis där de hänger.
Jag föredrar bilder som förmedlar ett budskap i flera lager. Vid första anblicken fylld av feel-good, en vacker utsikt, fint väder, solen skiner, blommor på ängen eller vattnet som ligger förrädiskt spegelblankt. I en sådan bild kan jag gömma min egentliga berättelse, mitt förakt för förtryckare och våldsverkare, rasister och fördomsfulla människor - ett gärna återkommande motiv mer eller mindre dolt i det vackra motivet. Jag försöker förena dem i ett gemensamt narrativ.
Bild och formgivning har löpt som en röd tråd genom livet. Fotokonst känns som en värdig final som jag gärna delar med mig.
Min genre är vid som framgår av mina bilder, temat en blandning av pop- och gatukonst i kollage som kan bestå av hundratals lager. Vissa bilder kan ta veckor, andra någon dag innan det är dags att överlämna resultatet till printverkstaden. Fine Art Prints är digitala fotocollage. I dessa kollage sker rivandet, klippandet, pusslandet, målandet, ritandet och sprayningen digitalt. Det jag monterar in kan vara hundratals år gamla bilder som jag omsorgsfullt frilägger så att de ser ut att vara en del av tavlan men också bilder skapade av mig själv efter min egen fantasi. Därefter besöks printstudion och för vissa bilder numrera en limiterad upplaga (oftast 7 exemplar) och signera för hand. Vissa bilder kan köpas i olika format. Det är bara att fråga efter vilka. Gillar man en bild som är 70x100 men inte har plats på väggen, går den kanske att få i 50x70 cm istället. Frågan är fri.
Metoden Giclée eller Fine Art Print som det också kallas är det moderna sättet för framställning av grafisk konst. Villkoret för denna typ av utskrifter är att en högkvalitativ storformatskrivare används med åldersbeständigt färgpigment och konstnärspapper eller i förekommande fall på duk. Pappret som används möter de krav på livslängd som ställs av museer och gallerier. Normalt säljer jag mina bilder oinramade så att den nya ägaren själv kan bestämma hur de skall se ut, med eller utan passepartout färg på ram, med eller utan glas etc..
Under många år ställde jag bara ut på nätet, i valda grupper och på min egen Facebooksida - https://www.facebook.com/jorgen.thornberg.9
Jag finns också på en egen hemsida som tyvärr inte alltid är uppdaterad – https://www.jth.life/ Där kan du också läsa en del av de berättelser som följer med bilden.
UTSTÄLLNINGAR
Luftkastellet, oktober 2022
Konst i Lund, november 2022
Luftkastellet, mars 2023
Engleson Galleri Caroli, april 2023
Hydra, Greece June 2023
Engleson Galleri Caroli, oktober 2023
Toppen, Höllviken december 2023
Luftkastellet, mars 2024
Torups Galleri, mars 2024
Venice, May 2024
Luftkastellet, oktober 2024
Konst i Advent, December 2024
Galleri Engleson, Caroli December 2024
Jäger & Jansson Galleri, april 2025
A bit about pictures and me.
I'm a curious person who sees everything in pictures, even what I express in words, often combining them, for behind all my pictures lies a story. These narratives, some as short as a single image and others as long as a novel, are the heart and soul of my work.
Pictures tell stories. Wherever I go, I'm surrounded by natural beauty, exciting people, and history. I use my camera to document the world and blend what I see with what I feel to capture the hidden magic.
My images tell my stories. Through my pictures, prints, and narratives, I invite you to partake in these stories in your life and home and share my deeply personal perspective of our world. More than meets the eye. I think in pictures, dream, write, and talk about them; consequently, I must create images too. They become what I see, not necessarily confined to reality. There's a picture around every corner. I hope you'll see what I saw and enjoy it.
I'm also a writer, and many images come with a shorter or longer essay. It accompanies the painting, printed on fine paper with my personal greeting.
Many pictures start their journey on my camera. Simply put, I describe the image I see in my mind, experienced or imagined. The image arises within me even before I bring the eyepiece to my eye. In a fraction of a moment, I see what I want and what can be done with the picture. Here, I'll insert a giraffe, Superman, the Titanic, or whatever my imagination conjures up. Even stranger is that I remember the mental image long after it's time to create the work. Whether I succeed is up to the observer, often imbued with a streak of black humour – the aim is to entertain. My pictures usually become a talking point wherever they hang.
I prefer pictures that convey a message in multiple layers. At first glance, they're filled with feel-good vibes, a beautiful view, lovely weather, the sun shining, flowers in the meadow, or the water lying deceptively calm. But beneath this surface beauty, I often conceal a deeper story, a narrative that challenges societal norms or explores the human condition. I invite you to delve into these hidden narratives and discover the layers of meaning within my work.
Picture and design have been a thread running through my life. Photographic art feels like a fitting finale, and I'm happy to share it.
My genre is varied, as seen in my pictures; the theme is a blend of pop and street art in collages that can consist of hundreds of layers. Some images can take weeks, others just a day before it's time to hand over the result to the print workshop. Fine Art Prints are digital photo collages. In these collages, tearing, cutting, puzzling, painting, drawing, and spraying happen digitally. What I insert can be images hundreds of years old that I carefully extract so they appear to be part of the painting, but also images created by myself, now also generated from my imagination. Next, visit the print studio and, for certain images, number a limited edition (usually 7 copies) and sign them by hand. Some images may be available in other formats. Just ask which ones. If you like an image that's 70x100 but doesn't have space on the wall, you might be able to get it in 50x70 cm instead. The question is open.
The Giclée method, or Fine Art Print as it's also called, is the modern way of producing graphic art. This method ensures the highest quality and longevity of the artwork, using a high-quality large-format printer with archival pigment inks and artist paper or, in some cases, canvas. The paper used meets the longevity requirements set by museums and galleries. I sell my pictures unframed, allowing the new owner to personalise their artwork, confident in the lasting value and quality of the piece.
For many years, I only exhibited online, in selected groups, and on my Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/jorgen.thornberg.9. I also have my website, which unfortunately is not constantly updated - https://www.jth.life/. You can also read some of the stories accompanying the pictures there.
EXHIBITIONS
Luftkastellet, October 2022
Art in Lund, November 2022
Luftkastellet, March 2023
Engleson Gallery Caroli, April 2023
Hydra, Greece June 2023
Engleson Gallery Caroli, October 2023
Toppen, Höllviken December 2023
Luftkastellet, March 2024
Torup Gallery, March 2024
Venice, May 2024
UTSTÄLLNINGAR
Luftkastellet, oktober 2022
Konst i Lund, november 2022
Luftkastellet, mars 2023
Engleson Galleri Caroli, april 2023
Hydra, Greece June 2023
Engleson Galleri Caroli, oktober 2023
Toppen, Höllviken december 2023
Luftkastellet, mars 2024
Torups Galleri, mars 2024
Venice, May 2024
Luftkastellet, October 2024
Konst i Advent, December 2024
Galleri Engleson, Caroli December 2024
Jäger & Jansson Galleri, April 2025
Utbildning
Autodidakt
Medlem i konstnärsförening
Öppna Sinnen
Med i konstrunda
Konstrundan i Skåne
Utställningar
Luftkastellet, October 2022
Art in Lund, November 2022
Luftkastellet, March 2023
Engleson Gallery Caroli, April 2023
Hydra, Greece June 2023
Engleson Gallery Caroli, October 2023
Toppen, Höllviken December 2023
Luftkastellet, March 2024
Torup Gallery, March 2024
Venice, May 2024