Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Søren Nellemann. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Søren, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I have been an artist all my life (doing my own comic books as a kid), but when I was in by 20s I had no stories to tell and I wasn’t ready. So I had to go through some life experiences to arrive at the point I am at today. So every artist journey is unique. Like David Bowie said: “You become old just to discover who you always wanted to be”. That’s me. But it wouldn’t be me without my journey.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have always been an artist: Drawing even before I could walk. And I have always wanted to make this world better, especially for people less fortunate than me.

My wonderful childhood in the 1970-80s was free from any institutionalization/social media as I literally only began school at the age of 7 (I was not in a nursery nor in a kindergarten). Until then, I roamed freely in the forest living in “imagination land” and spending my time exploring nature, building weird machines and spending endless amount of time drawing and painting and reading comic books (that’s how I learned to read). And I made my own comic books (the first one when I was just 9 years old (and full of spelling mistakes).

But I was also an activist: being born in Denmark you have all the opportunities, so I was (and still am) driven by a sense of making this world a better place, because honestly it is simply a lottery (where and to whom you are born). So even if I wanted to become a comic book writer or artist I was not ready or rather I felt alienated and didn’t know what I wanted to do with my art or wish stories to tell.

So while I continued to make comic books for my self, which also turned into poetry and fiction writing, I pursued a degree in macro-, development and education economics: because I thought (maybe a little naively) that if I got a job with the United Nations or the World Bank I could maybe – just maybe make a difference. I pursued this objective relentlessly and did indeed end up working for the UN and the World Bank working across some 70 developing countries as diverse as South Sudan, Mozambique, Yemen, Egypt, Russia, Ukraine, Indonesia and Dominican Republic, trying to help children and adults get an education. Because education is a way to improve your life, job opportunities and income. And I ended up actually living in very different countries like Indonesia, Dominican Republic, Paris, Russia, the United States and the Netherlands merging myself into different people and cultures. But the creative bug never left me, so through the 25 years working as an economist I dabbled with painting and writing poetry and novels. And luckily actually got a coming of age Generation X novel published – by one and only fiction publication. I continued writing but never got anything else published.

Concurrently I engaged deeply into working with impoverished communities across the world trying to help children and adults get an education. In the process I was also exposed to different cultures, norms, values and religions learning that fundamentally we are all the same as human beings.

All of these life experiences have made an imprint on my soul and shaped me into the human being and artist I am today.

Working with government counterparts through the World Bank also exposed me to the realities of politics, finance and policy making: so as the years passed I felt an increasing cynicism creeping into me. I did not want this to happen. Concurrently in an almost Freudian way I felt compelled to create and paint and therefore made the move and applied and got enrolled into the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague in the Netherlands in 2015 – ten years ago. But also this was a move that just maybe I could change the world for the better through my art and dialogue. I now suddenly had lots of stories to tell.

Since then I have just been lucky: When I graduated from the Royal Academy I was selected with 30 other artists from all 11 art academies in the Netherlands as a ‘Best Artist Graduate/Sprout Young Talent’ award and exhibition – a significant recognition. After graduation I worked 3 years as a professional artist actively pursuing opportunities and in the process also getting hundreds of rejections. But I was lucky getting several public commissions, completing 6 public permanent bronze sculptures (also learning to work and cast in bronze (a new medium)) and having my first solo exhibitions in Denmark and Amsterdam in 2020 and 2023 respectively.

Now (2025) I have completed my Masters of Fine Art from the New York Academy of Art. And my mission is now to make art and use my artworks and artistic practice to improve the world and engage in dialogue with everyone. And yes make art accessible to all “Art for All”.

My work and style? Think about Baroque Caravaggio and De Kooning with the Muppets filtered through a story from the New York Times.

My paintings, sculptures and installations are all about what it feels like living in our world today: trying to survive or make sense of it all, including the craziness of humanity evoking a variety of feelings: love, sadness, alienation, loneliness, anger and anxiety. My works may appear humorous and chaotic at first glance, but when looking closer their darker side is revealed. I use humor as a catalyst for entering a dialogue between my works and the viewer, inviting a broad audience, from trained art lovers to passersby and children, to engage. Some people get upset. Others love it. Talking to people without judgement is very much part of my practice.

When I paint, my work process is complicated and a battle. Most often words or a sentence appear in my mind and from that I begin to doodle. I do not do much sketching or planning and I work directly on the canvas intuitively making changes in the composition, colors and textures as I go along. I do look a lot at art history and make research as an integral part of informing my new work, like for example how a war, disease or disaster have been portrayed by painters through history. At the moment I am playing with thick impasto and loose gestures much more abstractly.

What is funny is that I approach my sculptures much more as a session of mediation when I work in bronze or stone, but again make intuitive decisions as I go along the 3D work speaks to me: for me making sculptures is very much a sense of touch and feeling.

My installations like my painting may appear fun as I use all sort of materials like garbage, burned wood, gumballs, stone, toys, mannequins and recycles electronics to create these temporary installations. They are often more thought out, but always with changes as I install the elements.

This fall as the Amsterdam based SBK Art Foundation (that picks the best artyist graduates/sprout young talent every year) celebrates it 70th years anniversary I have been selected with 70 others artist to represent the last decade (2015-2025) an incredible honor.

So finally what makes me most proud? I have gone full circle on this one: Recognition is nice and some money too (the validation you get through sales), but honestly I have waited too long to do this. So now I just want to make the best work I can – artworks that comes from my heart and soul. Artworks that matters to me. In the process of doing this I have discovered a few magic moments: Normally people (in our social media culture) only look at an artwork/panting for maybe 3-6 seconds. But I have had the experience that some people stop and stand in front of my paintings for minutes trying to take it all in and subsequently conveying to me that through my work they suddenly see the world we live in (our crazy world) but with different eyes. Some are even touched or find meaning and healing. That excites me. That makes me proud.

And I think that is what sets me apart: I paint the world we live in today and I use the style of the Renaissance/Baroque black darkness with the own comic figures to convey this. No-one is doing that. I have even been told not to paint dark black paintings (!), but I do it anyway.

So I keep going working from my heart and hopefully making a difference or making this world a better place.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My mission is still the same: To help people deconstruct or see our crazy world from a different perspective. With humor, darkness and stinging depiction of our world today.

In the process of doing this I have discovered a few magic moments: Normally people (in our social media culture) only look at an artwork/panting for maybe 3-6 seconds. But I have had the experience that some people stop and stand in front of my paintings for minutes trying to take it all in and subsequently conveying to me that through my work they suddenly see the world we live in (our crazy world) but with different eyes. Some are even touched or find meaning and healing. That excites me. That makes me proud.

And if I can have some meaningful conversation (I learn too) – that is amazing.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

As an artist you constantly question yourself, your skills level and stories. I imagine that running a new start-up or small business it is tough to maintain you vision through difficult times. My lesson of resilience is that you have to stick to you guns and be true to yourself. That does not mean that you do not listen to advice from others or get feedback, which i imagine is particularly important if you run a more commercial business.

And this is where I feel more fortunate. I am financial independent since I waited so long, so I do not have to think about sales or markets, but create freely. That is amazing.

But again, as we live in a world that very much equates success with money and external validation (though commercial success) it is and will always continue to be a struggle with self doubt and to deal with that I try to go back to my core values of why i became and artist and why I create artworks.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sorenn.com
• Instagram: soren_nellemann
• Facebook: Soren Nellemann
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soren-nellemann-88a24b86/