Bjarne Werner is a Danish-Faroese artist based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was born in 1960 north of Copenhagen, and raised in Syria, Lebanon and Denmark and spent his summers on The Faroe Islands. He graduated from The Jutland Art Academy in Denmark in 1985, and has been on artist residencies in Helsinki, Paris, Bergen, Berlin and New York.
How did you get into art?
As a kid I was totally into biology and was busy drawing animals. I went to a local artist to get some training in drawing. He introduced me to the tradition of working from nude model, portraits, still life and landscape. We also went to the National Gallery, and he introduced me to art from all ages. At one point he asked me if I considered becoming a painter. I didn't know what to say.
How would you describe your style? What makes your work special?
It’s abstract in the sense that it doesn't portray anything as such. It's colorful and using contrast to create movement and space. And it´s organic in the sense of using bodily shapes and irregular geometry that relates to nature. It´s dramatic as it uses colliding layers of compositions.
How do you go about developing your work?
I frequently change in the media I work in, respectively with painting, printmaking, digital and recently also ceramics. I use my experience from one media to take a new approach in another media. It can become like a fresh start. I also use different methods all the time, and the paintings can be twisted and turned throughout the process of painting. 
Who or what influences you?
I go to see a lot of art, and I like to go at studio-visits to my colleagues. I see painting as a sort of conversation, so when something catches my attention, I feel like I want to respond. I am not only inspired by contemporary art. Especially everything I see that makes me want to create something, becomes an inspiration and an influence.
Make us curious. What is planned next?
I'll spend this upcoming dark Scandinavian winter in Copenhagen working on series of paintings and prints with a few shows coming up. In the coming spring I am going to New York for 3 months for an artist residence program, and I'll also have a show in New York in June.
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