Tor-Arne Moen

Tor-Arne Moen (b.1966) is a Norwegian painter, printmaker and author. He lives and works in Notodden (Telemark), Norway. He was educated at the Bergen National Academy of the Arts.

The artist is recognizable by his high-powered figurative technique with heavily painted surfaces consisting of coarse and thick brushstrokes made with varying brush widths. He uses a mix of oil-paint and egg oil tempera, an old technique based on an emulsifying binder. The word tempera refers to the actual painting technique and was used by the masters since Medieval times. While the tempera is often applied in thin layers, Moen uses it with oil paint, and in generous amounts, in order to get the creamy texture, and set the brushstrokes in relief to the canvas. 

In his representations of animal and human figure in imaginative and sometimes bizarre constellations, he depicts human-made objects and classic wallpaper patterns set against the animals’ own colors and patterns, created over millions of years, which invites the viewer to contemplate the contrast or seek a visual coherence.

The act of painting – the brushstrokes, the tools and how the surface can appear as the paint is applied – is one of the most important elements of Tor-Arne Moen’s paintings. He says, «My way of painting is driven by an interest in the material and in the surface, the skin of the painting, so to speak. When looked at up close, my method may be perceived as expressive»

(text courtesy of American Art Collector Magazine, 2019)