It has never been easier to showcase art. At the same time, there have never been more things an artist is expected to know. We are not just supposed to create art and develop our own expression, but also tell the stories behind the works, document the process, photograph, publish, use social media, and sell and distribute the art.

The role of the artist has changed a great deal since I began my art education in the 1980s. Back then, the path was clear: the artist worked in the studio, the gallery showcased the art, and the audience encountered it through exhibitions, art dealers, and institutions.

Today, the path from the studio to the audience is much shorter. I can show a new painting on the same day it is finished, tell the story behind a series, share the process on social media, and sell art directly through my own online gallery, Edvarda.store.

This has also changed the way I think about my own artistry. It is not just about what I create, but about how the art is seen, understood, and discovered.

Building an artistry

An artistry is about more than individual images. It is about developing a visual language, exploring ideas over time, creating series, and building an artistic universe. But it is also about finding one's audience and a way for the art to reach them.

Today, I run EDVARDA, my own art brand and the online gallery Edvarda.store for art prints. Here, I can showcase my art directly, without the path necessarily going through an intermediary such as a gallery or agent.

It also gives me closer contact with the people who will live with the art. I can help with the choice of motif, size, colors, and framing – whether it is a large painting for the living room, a smaller work for the bedroom, or an art print for the home office.

For me, this is also a part of art mediation. Buying art is not just about the purchase itself, but about finding a work that you want to have around you over time.

An expression that had to be mine

When building a business around art, it is important for me to distinguish between communicating and selling art – and letting the market decide what the art should be.

The art must come first.

When I started my art education in the 1980s, abstract and conceptual art were very prominent. I also worked abstractly and was occupied with the big questions regarding what an image could be. But eventually, I realized that that was not where my own expression lay.

I wanted to draw and paint people, figures, and environments – and not least, tell stories. A person, an outfit, an interior, or a situation could be the starting point for a larger narrative.

Art history has always been important to me, but I especially enjoy the encounters between different worlds: Fine Art and popular culture, art history and contemporary life, fashion, film, literature, and everyday life.

I can take as a starting point a classic composition, a film scene, a pose from the fashion world, or a person I have seen somewhere – and put the elements together into a new story.

Over time, this has become my own visual language. Something "Edvardaesque" – a distinct way of seeing, combining, and telling.

From individual images to artistic universes

Ideas for images can come from many places: a book I have read, a design I have seen, an interior, a film scene, or a fascinating color palette.

When several images begin to speak to each other, a series emerges. It is a way of working that I enjoy, because one image can tell a lot, while several images together can create an entire world.

Oslo Noir is an example of this. Here, I use Oslo as a starting point, but not necessarily the city as we know it. The Opera House, the Munch Museum, the City Hall, and Tjuvholmen can become parts of a more cinematic and dreamlike reality.

I am interested in the city as a place, but also in the city as we imagine it. It can begin in reality and end somewhere completely different.

Investing in art

Even though I had worked with art for many years, it took nearly twenty years after my art education before I seriously decided to commit fully to art.

In the meantime, I had other jobs that provided financial predictability while also allowing me to continue working artistically. I worked, among other things, as an art mediator in museums for around 20 years.

Eventually, I began to ask myself: What if I built the structure around the art myself?

I began to view my artistry as more than just the production of individual works. It could also be an audience, a business, and a long-term project.

That became an important change. I decided to take greater responsibility for the entire path from idea and artistic work to communication, sales, and meeting the audience.

Choices and risks

One of the biggest choices I have made was to invest everything I owned into the art – and move to Los Angeles.

I could have chosen a safer path. Instead, I chose to use the means I had to give my art time, space, and the opportunity to develop. It was a risk, but I wanted to find out what could happen if I really took my artistry seriously.

Los Angeles became important, both artistically and personally. I met new people, experienced art from other perspectives, and gained a broader view of what an artistry could be.

It was also here that I developed Livsfrisen (The Frieze of Life), a continuous work of about 60 meters. It became a visual life story where people, places, experiences, and art historical references were woven together.

Livsfrisen is not an autobiography in the traditional sense. It is rather an attempt to tell a life through images – and to let many individual works become parts of one larger narrative.

In this way, my own artistry has also grown: from individual images to series, and further into a larger visual universe.

Art online

When social media and websites emerged, artists gained a completely different, direct channel to their audience. The path was no longer necessarily just artist → gallery → customer. It could also go directly from the artist to the people who wanted to see, experience, and buy the art.

For me, this became a natural continuation of my work. I could show a new painting while the paint was still drying, talk about a series, share glimpses from the studio, and meet people who were interested in the art.

When I started working on Edvarda.store, I therefore wanted to create more than just an online store. I wanted to gather art, stories, and communication in one place – an online gallery where I could share my artistry directly.

Art prints as part of the artistry

An original work is unique. At the same time, I have always liked the idea that art can reach more people.

Therefore, art prints have become an important part of EDVARDA.

For me, an art print is not about making a cheaper alternative to an original work, but about creating a high-quality product in its own right.

I work with limited and numbered editions, hand-signing, hand-coloring, and professional production on archival-quality art paper.

In this way, more people can bring a piece of my artistry into their homes, without the art print losing the significance or quality that I want the art to have.

When art moves in

Something happens when a work of art leaves the studio and enters a home.

It gets different colors around it, different furniture, different people, and different stories. Perhaps it becomes the picture you always notice when you enter the room. Perhaps you discover something new in it after a few years.

That is one of the reasons why I like to be helpful when someone is buying art. I don't just want someone to find something nice for an empty wall, but a work of art that they actually want to live with.

For me, there is a big difference between buying art because you need something on the wall and finding a work that gives something back every time you look at it.

Artist and entrepreneur

Can one be both an artist and an entrepreneur?

For me, it does not mean that the art should be subordinated to the market. It means that I take responsibility for the entire artistry.

I work in the studio, developing ideas and series, but also with the website, communication, customers, collaborations, exhibitions, and sales.

A gallery can give art a physical and curatorial context. An exhibition can give a series its own space. Social media can open the door to new people, and an online gallery can make the path between artist and audience shorter.

I do not experience these things as contradictions. On the contrary, they have given me more opportunities to decide how my art should encounter the world.

An artistry in constant development

I started with a desire to make images. Eventually, I became occupied with how images can belong together, how a series can develop an idea, and how several series over time can become a larger visual universe. Today, my artistry is therefore about both what happens in the studio and the encounter with the people who will live with the art.

For me, Edvarda.store is a part of this. It is the place where I can showcase my works, tell the stories behind them, and meet people who might find a work they want to have in their own home. When a picture moves out of the studio, the story does not end. It continues somewhere else, in a new room, and in a new life.