Frank Jensen was born in Denmark 1956. Art became his passion from a very young age. His father (a violinist and painter) was his very first teacher; and at the age of seven Jensen created his first water colour and oil paintings. He studied art in Copenhagen, worked as an illustrator in Denmark and lived and worked in the United States for several periods.

Frank Jensen spent some years travelling around various countries before settling down in Barcelona in 1991 where he created illustrations for newspapers, magazines and books. Since 1990 Frank Jensen has participated in several one-man exhibitions and art-fairs in Spain and in the rest of Europe.

Initial inspiration has changed a lot for me due to the fact that my paintings in the beginning were figurative. I now consider myself to be an abstract painter, inspired by the outer tangible world. The observation of the world that surrounds me, thoughts, reflections, analysis,, concentration and imagination all nurture my inspiration. I now base my work on expression through abstraction, telling stories, transmitting feelings or simply trying to create sensations in the spectator. I only want to paint what’s essential.

My goal is creating reflective and honest work permitting chance, a work that doesn’t want to be dramatic with big flourish blurs of thick paint, and glutinous shiny drips. I may find inspiration in a fragment of a wall, a combination of forms, a space, colours, a symbol, the light, people, a political or social fact, a poem or a simple thought that returns to my mind.

The complex nature of my work starts out from a great table, where the process of creation begins with the preparation of the canvas using putty elaborated with acrylic and marble dust. I apply this in several layers before painting, a process that acquires a lot of work and time between layers and drying. During this process I am already organising the space, creating different textures to obtain several planes and depth. My chromatic language is wide and based on acrylic products. The application-technique is varied, using brushes, spatulas, rags, papers, etc., and applying many thick or diluted layers, according to the concept of the project.

The symbolism that I use to communicate is a changing language according to the concept of my work, an abstract language where some signs are repeated frequently, a language that may denote a human being, the nature, relations between forms, thoughts or people. My images are usually landscapes, interiors or compositions of forms and colours, with which I attempt to externalise an abstract interior.

I live and work in the centre of Barcelona, surrounded by traffic, noise and people. The anonymity, light, the Mediterranean character, the soul and frenetic pulse of Barcelona enchant me. I attempt to work every day of the week because I feel the necessity to paint in order to feel complete, and for that reason I have the essential philosophy of living and working in the same site.

I have my breakfast absorbing information of the present via television, (indispensable to continue creating with my feet on the ground); I review notes and sketches from the previous night and then go to the study accompanied by my faithful companion, Pepe, a Siamese cat with deep blue eyes.

I paint listening to music, plunge night and day between colours, brushes and the intense activity that reigns in my study, always losing the notion of time until my body and mind demand a rest. Sometimes a friend may come by to visit and will support the creative process by passing comments or critical observations on a current piece in progress, which is always helpful. Days of living this intense and demanding life-style 24 hours a day surrounded by canvas, papers with notes, sketches and the smell of paint, can leave everything apart from painting ending up occupying a second place. But my days are full of happiness and emotions.