Seeing Sonar -

Mathilde Weis Jensen and Her Visuals of Echolocation

Through three layered transparent surfaces and low viscosity acrylic paint, Mathilde Weis Jensen explores how perception unfolds over time. The "Seeing Sonar" series invite the gaze to drift, return, and linger - just like an echo sounder on a sailing boat. Inspired by the quiet rhythm of sailing, vision moves back and forth as echolocation, shaping abstract landscapes through repetition, depth, and subtle shifts of light.

Mathilde Weis Jensen is a Danish artist, based in Copenhagen, working in the field of contemporary, abstract painting, investigating the rather uncontrolled possibilities of low viscosity acrylic paint on multiple transparent surfaces in the aim of expressing interpretations of "seeing". By using very thin liquid paints and many different transparent kinds of grounds, Weis Jensen presents this shifting complex ability to see.

Like a sonar system, or a bat navigating through soundscapes, humans can process visual impressions in an echo-like rhythm — an ongoing movement that casts layers of images from itself. Weis Jensen works are interpretations of these layers. They represents the encounter between human beings and their surroundings, reflections, and emotional state of mind awakened by this confront.

"I am drawn to elements that resist immediate understanding, that create unease or hesitation. Something that challenges the gaze and, even upon closer inspection, remains an unbroken code. The 'unknown' recurs throughout my work — 'das unheimliche' — and has become a vital element of my abstract visual language. It is a quiet shiver I am describing: that which we attempt to see through and comprehend."

At the core of Weis Jensen's work lies an interest in how images are constructed not only through what is present, but through what is partially obscured, reflected, or refracted. By allowing paint to move freely across translucent surfaces, Weis Jensen challenges the conventional flatness of painting, extending it into layered, spatial compositions where no single surface holds visual authority. The image emerges gradually, often dependent on the viewer’s position, the surrounding light, and the interaction between overlapping materials. In this way, seeing becomes an active process rather than a passive one.

Transparency plays a crucial role in Weis Jensen’s practice. Instead of treating it as a neutral or purely technical quality, she uses transparency as a conceptual tool — one that complicates notions of clarity, depth, and meaning. The layered surfaces create moments of visual interference, where forms dissolve, reappear, or shift in relation to one another. These optical instabilities echo the complexities of perception itself: how vision is shaped by memory, movement, and context, and how it is never entirely stable or complete.

"Through transparent layers, I work with the notion that the past cannot be reopened, only seen through the eyes of the present. Like the near future ahead us — visible, yet never fully graspable. This is what 'seeing sonar' is all about."

 Mathilde Weis Jensen

 The Creation of a Weis Jensen Sonar 

Mathilde Weis Jensen in her studio mixing low viscosity acrylic paint.

Photo courtesy of Sofus Graae.

Weis Jensen primarily work with transparency on stretched, translucent fabric and custom-built frames that create depth, as well as acrylic boxes containing three layers of polyfilm. Last mention is covered in this viewing room.

The polyfilm layers are suspended within the box, allowing light to pass from both front and back. The layers and the three-dimensional boxes create depth and space. Elements are planned to appear and recede. However, the final work feels unpredictable and autonomous.

 An Abstract Language Without   Fixed Symbols and Narratives 

Colours, forms and layers operate as experiential elements rather than representational ones favouring open-ended visual structures. The works invite slow looking, encouraging viewers to navigate their visual complexity. As the eye moves across the surfaces, relationships between forms continuously shift, creating moments of recognition followed by dissolution. Instability is an intentional and central condition of Jensen’s works, reflecting her interest in perception as an intangible fluidity.

Mathilde Weis Jensen (b. 1979, DK)

Seeing Sonar VII, 2025, 24.5 x 19.5 x 4.5 cm.

Acrylic on polyfilm

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