Astrid Kruse Jensen (1975) is a Danish photographer who specializes in artistic night photography where she brings out the mysteriously unreal, working on the play between artificial light and darkness. Her work has been widely exhibited in Denmark and abroad.
Astrid Kruse Jensen began her education as an artist in 1995 when she studied at the School for Photography in Aarhus. In 1998, she continued to study photography in the Netherlands at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy of Design in Amsterdam. She completed her studies in 2002 after a two-year course at the Glasgow School of Art's Fine Art Photography department. She then spent two years teaching at the School for Photography in Aarhus, spending short periods on artist residencies at St Petersburg, Russia, and Hafnarfjördur, Iceland organized by the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art.
In answer to a question on her night photography technique, Kruse Jensen explains: "In recent years, most of my work has been carried out at night. This is due to the fact that, at night, I can manipulate and interpret the surroundings while the photograph is being taken. I can underexpose or over-emphasize certain areas of the picture. Normally I use the light available at the site, and the hypernatural colours are a result of the very long exposure times I can use when I photograph at night. With long exposure times, I also relinquish full control over the light and colours, and I think it is interesting that part of the process is a matter of chance. My work is analogue and the pictures are created without any additional manipulation. The level of detail in even the darkest photographs is the result of the long exposure time."
In her recent collections Imaginary Realities, Parallel Landscapes and The Construction of Memories, Kruse Jensen attempts to question traditional concepts of reality and nature, casting a new, disconcerting light on familiar subjects. Her photographs transform them into parallel realities which continue their existence in the observer's imagination. There is also a temptation to think about the background to her photographs, always hidden in the dark. Rather than telling a story, Kruse Jensen suggests a multitude of possible scenarios including psychologically loaded situations which go beyond the bounds of a narrative.
The paradox in the work of Astrid Kruse Jensen is her ability to use photography as a means of bringing reality together with the imaginary. She uses her camera as a tool for telling stories. Picking on quite ordinary subjects, she brings us images which suggest more than they actually show, allowing the beholder to interpret their full meaning.
© 2020. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Astrid Kruse Jensen. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Ms. Astrid Kruse Jensen |
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| Hypernatural #01 2003 |
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| Hypernatural #4 2003 |
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| Hypernatural #32 2003 |
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| Kasse from Imaginary Realities 2004 |
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| The Construction of Memories Series: Constructing a memory 2009 |
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| The Construction of Memories: A summer night 2009 |
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| Within the landscape # 9 2013 |
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| Within the landscape #12 2013 |
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| Within the landscape #16 2013 |
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| Within the landscape #18 2013 |
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| Within the landscape #32 2013 |
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| Within the landscape # 38 2013 |
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| Floating #12 2016 |
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| Merging Into the Landscape 2018 |
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| Fading Into The Mountains 2018-19 |
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| The Infinite Lake 2018-19 |
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| The Mountains of Lava #2 2018-19 |
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| The Landscape of Memory 2019 |
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| The Room of Eternity 2019 |
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| The Stairs 2019 |
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| The Shifting Memories 2019 |
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| Towards the Inside 2019 |
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| The World Will Never Be The Same 2020 |
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| A place she had always dreamt about n.d. |
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| A place she had always dreamt about n.d. |
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| Bus Stop n.d. |
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| Disappearing into the past #04 n.d. |
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| Disappearing into the past #23 n.d. |
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| Disappearing into the past #41 b.d. |
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| Disappearing into the past #55 b.d |
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| Floating #16 n.d. |
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| Fragments of Remembrance #07 n.d. |
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| Imaginary reality series: Untitled #02 n.d. |
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| Parallel Landscapes: Rèverie n.d. |
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| She was looking for herself n.d. |
Very interesting. Some look like paintings at first glance. I had to re-read her bio to see if she also did painting, but I guess it really was the long exposure time that created the look.
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