MY COLORS
Lillian Presthus is a visual artist who works with paintings. She was educated at the Art School / Academy of Fine Arts in Bergen and Helsinki, specializing in textiles and painting.
At the exhibition "My Colors" at Haugesund Art Gallery, she is showcasing large-format oil paintings. In her painting process, she focuses on color and its endless possibilities and expressions. She believes that color is crucial for creating a good work of art.
Her paintings have clear references to nature, with the nature outside her studio in Bergen serving as a rich source of inspiration. Presthus says she constantly sees patterns, lines, directions, shapes, and especially colors when she moves through nature. Her interest in textile art has always followed her, and she incorporates patterns, ornaments, and "embroideries" into her paintings.
In this way, she builds compositions in her paintings where both natural elements and patterns are prominent. She works physically, mixing her own colors with selected pigments, applying paint with a spatula onto the canvas, and often scratching into the paint to build textures.
Presthus has had extensive exhibition activities both domestically and internationally, with solo exhibitions in several Norwegian cities, New York, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Malmö. She has participated in the Autumn Exhibition and numerous exhibitions in the Nordic countries.
Her paintings have been purchased by public institutions and art collectors, and she has completed several decorative commissions.