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"The Veiled One", oil/spray on canvas, 76x60 cm., 2005

The paintings and drawings of Cathrine Raben Davidsen (b. 1972) reference a variety of diverse influences.
Images taken from a magazine, a portrait by the Florentine master Botticelli, a verse from a Latin text, or an actual life experience are all fair game as motifs for her work.

Formal components include the use of fashion layout and design, which often converge with thematic figurative elements that appear to be from both the real world as well as from aspects of western history.

Raben Davidsen mixes the classics with elements of modern style, which is demonstrated in her choice of colour and material.
Her work is a result of a translation process where classics are being interpreted all over again.
She thus seeks to overcome the historical distance and renew the contents of classic painting and literature.

Cathrine Raben Davidsen's work presents mythological themes in the present tense; her work does not start out in the past but rather uses the past as a means to speak more directly about the present.