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Odin with the blind eye

Among Mediterranean sand, Swedish cinders and refuse off the local recycling station, Odin is waiting on top of a cold stone. His thin iron skeleton is shivering in the cold, but he keeps an upright posture like the guards beside him. One of the guards is already dressed. Glaring with his good eye, Odin is waiting impatiently for his own attire. This summer he is to be exhibited, and he dreams of being as majestic as the other figures guarding the entrance of the atelier. Paper artists Emma Løsecke Nielsen and Inge-Lise Øhrberg have just finished wetting the stiff white paper and are now ready to mould it onto Odin. They work with nimble and confident hands, the air saturated with concentration. Inge-Lise wets still more paper while Emma keeps sliding her hands all over Odin's back. He is quite pleased with the white kirtle, which will soon swathe his body.
With big pegs attached on both sides of his torso, he is now waiting for the kirtle to dry. He nods approvingly with his small stone head. Inge-Lise and Emma wipe their wet hands and step back to get a better view of Odin. Right behind them there is a long bench with buckets of brushes, and all the paintings and sculptures filling the walls and shelves leave the atelier a bit cramped for space. The two artists look look quite happy with the new kirtle as they sit down for a cup of coffee. Paper is the building block in all the works, which Inge-Lise and Emma create together with Ines Sørensen, who unfortunately could not make it that day. From time to time paper is also accompanied by stone, carved by sculptor Steffen Lund.

The small team of artists call themselves Sten & Papir (Stone & Paper), and practically all the works they create are the result of joint efforts. "It is absolutely fantastic to be working jointly with others," says Inge-Lise, "it contains another dimension, far away from our own egos—it develops us as humans." "I agree," says Emma "and from an artistic point of view this is definitely an advantage: When you work on your own, you only have yourself to discuss with, which is quite a tough process. When we are together, we are always supplementing each other. If I lose my inspiration, Inge-Lise or Ines might take over, pursuing their own ideas. The paper might of course take on a different colour or form than I had conceived. For my part, it means that I have to be open-minded and prepared to follow new ideas." "The teamwork has taught us not to hinder the others during the process, but if the end result cannot bear the joint rhythm, or if it turns out to be too contrived, we'll bin it. And often we start all over again," Inge-Lise adds.

Working with paper gives the members of Sten & Papir a great sense of freedom. It is an unpretentious and cheap material, and you can either discard or reuse it if you are not satisfied—or simply build on top of it. Emma recalls how they once had turned parts of an exhibited sculpture into a picture, which actually proved far more successful than the original. Emma produces a photo of the picture. It is quite big, with burnt colours and patterns, and it makes you think of an ancient and timeless landscape. In fact, the picture is representative of all the art displayed in the atelier. It is an art in close affinity with nature, capturing a core of human existence untouched by the passing of time. "When we start working, it does not take long before the paper begins to tell its own stories," concludes Inge-Lise.

Lotte Ladegaard Zeuthen