Tin Soldier, Homage to Elvis Presley

'Tin Soldier, Homage to Elvis Presley', Aluminium Dye Sublimation, a tetraptych, 175 X 228 cm (69 X 90 inches), 2017.

The Royal Danish Life Guards Regiment serves as a guard as well as a ceremonial unit to the Danish Monarchy. While on guard duty, the uniform of the Guards consists of dark blue tunics and light blue trousers with white stripes. The ceremonial uniform, worn on special state occasions, substitutes a scarlet tunic for the dark blue. I have always been fascinated by the glorious uniform, and decided to project it to the Danish Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier', one of my treasured childhood protagonists. Thus, I portrayed it from all four viewpoints, adopting the face of Elvis Presley, my adolescence hero.

Both Andersen's 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier' and Elvis Presley, had a great influence on me – the first was a model for uncompromising resilience even in the most difficult circumstances and the second was a major factor in shaping my cultural world. A reparation is made here to both of them: the Tin Soldier regains his lost leg and Elvis is brought back to life.

Andersen's 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier' and Elvis Presley come from different worlds, different centuries and different disciplines: literature, in which the work is expressed in written words and music, in which the work is expressed in sounds. ‘Tin Soldier, Homage to Elvis Presley’, is a work of art from yet another world, another century and another discipline, different from the other two – painting, in which the work is expressed in shapes and colors.

This artwork is a tetraptych consisting of 4 separate pieces, each measures (width) 57 X (height) 175 cm. These 4 pieces are placed next to each other and displayed as one framed artwork which measures (width) 228 X (height) 175 cm. Each piece of the four displays a different posture: front view, fuchsia (right side) view, back view and left side view.