Anniken Harlem Thorsen

Anniken Harlem Thorsen began her artistic career after retiring, after having admired art since childhood. She paints nature, animals, and people, including portraits of both famous and unknown women from history as well as dogs she has met.  
There is a spontaneity to Thorsen’s painting technique. Her pictures are figurative, but she does not try to depict everything perfectly. It is as though she is challenging what is regarded as “good taste” by emphasizing colours and areas rather than technical perfection. This does not mean that the art is inferior, but that she demonstrates other modes of expression than those that are taught within the “approved” academic tradition. 
In Norse mythology, the margyge is the ugly, dangerous counterpart to the beautiful mermaid. She is half-fish and half-human, lives in the ocean, and has evil intentions and magical powers. In medieval texts the margyge is described as a sea-troll: when she came to sight on the ocean surface, it was as a premonition of death for the ship’s crew. RG