Jens ”jenslabs” Clarholm

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Artist statement

My approach to art is experimental, and always involves technology.

Building a laser cutter in 2014, by using wood and a laser diode from an old DVD burner, opened up the world of art to me. It gave me the possibility to connect the digital world with the physical. The laser cutter enabled me to make a design using a computer, and then laser cut stencils with the laser cutter. I developed the laser cutter further by adding a pen attachment, and thus built my first plotter. From there the experimentation started. I worked with rust on metal, paint on glass and made laser cut stamps.

While building the laser cutter I learnt a lot and I deiced to build my first drawing machine; ”The Circlon machine”. The Circlon machine was quite limited in what kind of drawings it could make, but it was very fun tool to use in the creation process.

In 2015 I got a commission job from the city of Norrköping in Sweden to build a light installation for the ”Norrköping Light Festival”, where a number of artists made artworks that involved light. I made a piece called ”Kraftstationens själ” (The soul of the powerstation). For this work I handbuilt 4 large LED panels that I placed behind four glass block windows in an old powerstation. I then animated a light show through the glass.

The LED screens have also been displayed as a separate art installation at gallery Verkstad in Norrköping, and has also been used for VJ-sets at clubs.

In 2020 I built my second drawing machine. This time I made it a lot more complex. Using a combination of computer simulations, and with the drawing machine as my tool, I make generative art. The drawing machine is not a plotter/printer that create a physical drawing from a computer image. Instead different drawings are made by experimenting with the speed of the three different motors and the length on the arms holding the drawing medium, and which type of paper/color/ink I use.

I also experiment a lot with custom designed 3D printed tools for dispensing ink and other mediums.

This mix of analog and digital techniques produce a unique type of generative art with a human touch, where texture and color is provided by different physical media such as ink, watercolor and cyaontype enhance the digital work.

I have also experimented with photography in the areas of IR-photo, astro-photography, timelapse, macro and long exposure photography.

Areas