HERRING:If you write his civil name – Svend Erik Kristensen – then there are probably only a few who know who he is.
But as soon as he puts the better-known signature – Snekke – at the bottom of one of his works, recognition increases. And at the same time, the price of the paintings immediately rises into many thousands of kroner.
Snekke Kristensen is probably Hjørring’s most recognized living painter – and he turned 75 on 10 January 2023. But at that time he had absolutely no desire to mark his birthday.
Snekke was in the middle of his biggest artistic crisis.
– Just as writers can have a writer’s block, I had a painter’s block. The biggest I’ve ever had in my career. When I stood in front of the blank canvas, it was simply that I could not paint. I simply did not feel that I had more stories to tell, Snekke Kristensen explains.
– I have tried to be hit by a block before – but it has never been for such a long time before.
The crisis hit at the same time that he had actually received orders for many large tasks. But pressured by the circumstances, Snekke Kristensen chose to take a three-month self-paid break from painting.
– I am so privileged that I don’t have to paint every day to pay my bills. So in that way I have a bit more freedom than so many others. But the situation meant that I had to turn down several of the major public tasks during the period.
Found a way back
Although Snekke Kristensen had difficulty finding the stories he wanted to tell with his small brushstrokes, he worked his way back just as quietly.
At first, just by painting a little more casually.
– I did it in such a way that I started painting the sky on many of my canvases. I have always loved painting the sky – and once I had started again, I could also feel that the desire and inspiration to tell just as quietly returned.
Photo: Claus T. Krämmergård“/>
When Snekke Kristensen was in crisis, painting the sky became the way back to joy. Photo: Claus T. Krämmergård
– And now it’s like I’ve really started again. But I’ve probably learned from this that I no longer want to take on many huge tasks at once.
– Painting is a bit like a disease
For Snekke Kristensen personally, it is a great satisfaction that the joy of painting has returned.
– Painting is a bit like a disease. You can’t help it.
– I feel like this today that I don’t need to sell pictures to survive. But I’m still one hell of an ego tripper who thinks it’s great when people like what I do. It still gives me an experience to paint something that people are happy with.
The “disease” struck Snekke Kristensen already in his young years. He wasn’t raised in a home with art on the walls. But he plays in an orchestra with Peter Hofmeister, son of the artist Johannes Hofmeister.
– We practiced our barbed wire music in Johannes Hofmeister’s studio – and that allowed me to follow how he went and worked. I could see how the different paintings developed over time, recalls Snekke Kristensen.
– I thought it must be great to work the way he did. So I started painting as early as 16-17 years old.
Many years later, it gave Snekke Kristensen the opportunity to quit a well-paid job as a credit account manager in a credit union – to devote herself to a life as a full-time artist. And he has now been a full-time artist for more than 30 years.
Photo: Claus T. Krämmergård“/>
Snekke Kristensen’s paintings are characterized by small fine brushstrokes – which with a certain amount of humor appeal to both young and old. For example, he recently sold a 20 x 20 centimeter painting – and the buyer was a boy who spent DKK 9,000 of his confirmation money to acquire it. Photo: Claus T. Krämmergård
They mark 75 years
Although, as mentioned, Snekke Kristnesen was not in a party mood when he turned 75 at the beginning of 2023, he has since then wanted to do some kind of marking of the event.
He has therefore had 75 exclusive and numbered prints made of his new work, “Teateraften”.
– Well, it’s a picture from a lovely summer evening, which is a little inspired by our own theatre, says Snekke Kristensen.
– It’s about the fact that “theatre” is many things. Theater is not just something that happens in a theater – it also happens between people. Life is a theatre, and I have tried to describe that in the painting, which was made here at the beginning of 2023. And it has never been shown before, says Snekke Kristensen.
So at the back of his artistic crisis, he is in full swing again – and despite his age, he does not expect the brushes to rest again.
– Painting is a part of my life that I feel I cannot do without, states Snekke Kristensen.
Photo: Claus T. Krämmergård“/>