MILESTONE 2025

FOREWORD by Thorkild NB Nielsen, Galleri NB

Milestone marks a significant point in Steen Larsen’s artistic journey since the release of the book Road in 2012. While Road compiled his earlier works and artistic development up to that point, Milestone serves as documentation of his work from recent years - a period in which Steen has further refined his distinctive visual language with even greater depth, immersion, and intensity.

The title Milestone is no coincidence. It refers both to a
concrete milestone in Steen Larsen’s career and to the visual landmarks he creates in his works. His paintings function as artistic milestones-snapshots of time, place, and mood that captivate the viewer and invite reflection.

The book is divided into three themes: Rainscapes, Junkyard, and Americana. Each of these themes represents a central aspect of Steen’s artistic universe, demonstrating his ability to merge mood, light, and composition in a way that is both cinematic and sensory.

In Rainscapes, rain is not merely a weather phenomenon but an artistic touch that creates reflections, depth, and an almost melancholic beauty. The rain striking Steen’s windshield transforms nature and urban spaces, intensifies the play of light, and infuses the scenes with an almost abstract, dreamlike quality.

Junkyard explores a different facet of reality - places where the passage of time is evident in rust, scrap, and abandoned objects. Focusing on the car graveyard in Båstnäs, Sweden, Steen Larsen captures a raw aesthetic and a unique poetry in decay. Man-made cars are slowly reclaimed and ultimately dissolving into the landscape. It is a meditation on the beauty of the overlooked and an exploration of how we interact with the things we leave behind. Steen Larsen transforms this state into art - capturing and expressing the fascinating interplay between decay and beauty.

In Americana, Steen Larsen delves into an iconic visual world, unfolding the imagery of American culture and its visual references. His motifs draw on a collective memory of road trips, diners, billboards, and open landscapes - a nostalgic yet contemporary view of a country that exists both as a physical reality and as a powerful reminiscence of a bygone era.

Milestone is not just a collection of works but a narrative of Steen Larsen’s artistic evolution since 2012. It reveals how he continues to reinvent himself, challenge his subjects, and create paintings that capture moods, places, and stories with exceptional precision and sensitivity.

I hope this book will bring readers the same joy and fascination that Steen Larsen’s works have given me since his debut at Galleri NB in 1992.