I don't wish to have strict control over your associations, but I wanted the figurative work to become architectonic in composition and a vernacular narrative; to meet the viewer in an imaginal circumscribed realm where the narrative structure would touch mythical currents while leaving the narrative elements to be open to further play of the imagination. After all, to paint is an attempt to communicate. I think I have succeeded a few times, but for the most part I see this project as concluded. I'm not indifferent to the viewer's freedom. But like with touch, creative encounters can limit freedom to a dialogic course of events. As Duke Ellington said; "Limits is a good thing for creativity."

Jan Valentin Saether in an interview made by Lars Fr.H. Svendsen.
Read the entire interview here >>