Per Kirkeby
March 18 – April 30, 2021
Per Kirkeby
1938 Copenhagen – 2018 Copenhagen
Due to his use of painting, printed graphics, lyrics, and film, Per Kirkeby was considered one of the most versatile Danish contemporary artists. As one would expect from someone who holds a doctorate in geology, natural structures and forms are clearly visible in his finished works and partially shape his large-scale creations. Regardless of whether they are paintings or sculptures, they are not driven by impulse or emotion, but are subject to the controlled, reflexive work process of a scientist. Kirkeby’s methodology and style changed many times over the years.
Selected works
Per Kirkeby
Untitled
2015
Mixed media on Masonite
122 × 122 cm
Per Kirkeby
Untitled
2012
Mixed media on Masonite
122 × 122 cm
Per Kirkeby
Untitled
2012
Mixed media on Masonite
122 × 122 cm
Per Kirkeby
Untitled
2014
Mixed media on Masonite
122 × 122 cm
Per Kirkeby
Untitled
2012
Mixed media on Masonite
122 × 122 cm
Per Kirkeby
Untitled
2014
Mixed media on Masonite
122 × 122 cm
Per Kirkeby
Untitled
2014
Mixed media on Masonite
122 × 122 cm
Per Kirkeby
Untitled
2013
Mixed media on Masonite
122 × 122 cm
Per Kirkeby
Untitled
2012
Mixed media on Masonite
122 × 122 cm
Per Kirkeby
Untitled
2012
Mixed media on Masonite
122 × 122 cm
Installation views
About the exhibition
Galerie Haas AG is pleased to announce the exhibition Per Kirkeby, running from March 18 to April 30, 2021. On display will be works on Masonite created between 2012 and 2014. This is the first solo exhibition of the Danish artist (1938-2018) at the Zurich gallery.
Per Kirkeby was a multifaceted artist throughout his life. His œuvre includes painting as well as poetry, film, architecture, sculpture and printmaking. From 1957 to 1964 he first studied geology, but after numerous journeys and expeditions he took the path of an artist. Always drawing on his rich sources of inspiration, Kirkeby combines a scientifical objectivity with an artistical creativity, reflecting on what he has experienced and witnessed in an aesthetically unique form.
Catalogue
Excerpt
“In an art-historical perspective, the masonite pictures are reminiscent of works by Arshile Gorky. Their gestural figurative elements reference Cy Twombly’s Abstract Expressionist paintings with their vegetal-like elements. In an essay written in 1986, Kirkeby admired the “classical” in the works by Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Richard Serra and Sol LeWitt. For their part, the graphic works that Serra began producing in the 1970s represent an attempt at fitting different shapes into a large format that is akin to Kirkeby’s approach.”
Jagoda Kamola
[click for an online preview]