Henrik Uldalen (Norwegian, b. 1986), also known online as Henrikaau, is a self-taught painter working at the intersection of classical figuration and contemporary unease. Working mostly in oil, he paints emotionally raw, dreamlike portraits exploring absurdism, nostalgia, loneliness and alienation, often conceived as self-portraits projected onto other models.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, and adopted by a Norwegian family as an infant, he was raised in Asker, near Oslo, and is based between London and Oslo. He discovered oil paint at 19 while training to become a primary school teacher, and knew immediately it was what he wanted to do for life. After finishing his teaching qualification, he worked for a few years as an elementary school teacher while painting on the side, before turning to painting full time around 2008. He has lived in Barcelona, Florence and Mexico City, moving to England in 2015. His style shifted over time from tightly detailed, hyper-realistic paintings to a more unpredictable, chaotic hybrid, with recurring motifs of distorted, burned or smudged faces made by applying and wiping away chemicals on the canvas.
