The exhibition WEST COAST presents works from the three seas of the Danish west coast – the Skagerrak, the North Sea and the Wadden Sea. On these shores, humans have lived in close contact with the forces of nature, generation after generation. Time never stands still, even if it sometimes feels that way. Time is like a swell that travels long distances. It has fullness, but no real goal. The uninterrupted view of the distant horizon leaves a feeling of infinity, and since the sea cannot be tethered, the beaches of the west coast are the only areas of wild, unspoilt nature left to us in Denmark.

Henrik Saxgren has spent several years venturing up and down this coast – from the Wadden Sea to the Skagerrak – in his search for the essence and soul of this landscape. When Saxgren speaks about his landscapes, he is not afraid to say: ‘I grow humble when God’s creation suddenly reveals itself before my eyes…’. However, he insists that he is not religious in any churchgoing sense; rather, nature has become his church.

Saxgren did not search for specific subjects in the traditional sense; rather, he is constantly looking for signs and messages that can make his images timeless. One might say that instead of stopping time, he often inscribes time into the pictures. A photograph will always be a slice of reality captured at a particular point in time. Even so, the sense of infinity, contemplation and eternity found in these works seems genuine.

In this exhibition you will find yourself walking under wide open skies with endless horizons before you. The wind nipping at your cheeks. The scent of saltwater pricking at your nose. Birdsong entering your ears. Waves crash against the beach, the birds wake up and the sunrise is never the same. The sea is wild or becalmed. Your eyes take the lead.

Exhibition Concept: @ HEART - Herning Museum of Contemporary Art