About

Jimmy Bak

My journey into painting began with a scientific fascination for color and light. With over 25 years of experience in physics and chemistry, specializing in spectroscopy (infrared, visible, and UV), I have always explored how light interacts with matter—and how colors emerge from these interactions.

Years ago, a visit to the ochre quarries in southern France inspired me to work with a minimal palette using natural earth pigments including raw and burnt Siena,  black, white, and Prussian blue. These colors provide a natural harmony of tones, much like the spectral relationships I studied as a scientist. My landscapes reflect geological and atmospheric structures inspired by nature, abstracted in form. 

The fantasy paintings—masks and animals—are experiments with form and color balance, guided by both intuition and spontaneity. For me, painting is an extension of scientific exploration: a way to translate the language of light, matter, and color into visual compositions. 

Jimmy Bak

Min interesse for at male begyndte med en videnskabelig fascination af farve og lys. Med over 25 års erfaring inden for fysik og kemi, særligt i spektroskopi (infrarød, synligt lys og UV), har jeg forsket i, hvordan lys vekselvirker med stof – og hvordan farver opstår i den proces.

For nogle år siden besøgte jeg i okkerbruddene i Provence. Her blev jeg inspireret til at arbejde med en enkel farvepalette baseret på naturlige jordpigmenter som rå og brændt Sienna, okkergult, sort, hvidt og preussisk blå. Disse farver giver sammen en naturlig harmoni.

Mine landskaber afspejler geologiske og atmosfæriske strukturer inspireret af naturen, men i en abstrakt form. Fantasi-malerierne – med masker og dyr – er eksperimenter med form og farvebalance, styret af intuition og spontanitet.

For mig er maleri en forlængelse af den videnskabelige nysgerrighed – en måde at oversætte lysets, stoffets og farvernes sprog til visuelle kompositioner.

Above: Ochre powder purchased in Roussillon. Below: Roussillon in Provence and nearby ochre cliffs. The houses with their bricks and tiles reflect their warm colors of yellow and red ochres. Photos: Jimmy Bak