Per Kirkeby

Per Kirkeby, born in 1938, is one of Denmark's best-known contemporary artists. Kirkeby's enormous versatility is reflected in his artistic work, which includes paintings, prints and sculptures as well as a large number of works on paper. On the other hand, this also becomes clear in his curriculum vitae: Kirkeby began studying geology at the University of Copenhagen in 1957 and obtained his doctorate and degree in 1964. At the same time Kirkeby works as a poet, filmmaker, stage designer, architect; he writes artist monographs and undertakes, motivated by his geological interest, many journeys and expeditions.
Kirkeby's artistic interest is particularly in nature and the landscape, but also in the figure; the latter, however, in the course of time, increasingly gives way to a focus on in-depth studies of nature. His geological knowledge is deliberately incorporated into his artistic activities - the parallelism between the visual and scientific debate thus plays a central role not only in Kirkeby's life, but also in his work. The artist understands the process of producing a work as a nature-like process, which is determined by constant emergence and decay. Delicate watercolours alternate with large-format compositions of powerful landscape formations in Kirkeby's oeuvre.
Kirkeby's first participation in the Venice Biennale took place in 1976 and well-known solo exhibitions of the artist have already taken place: in the Museum Folkwang in Essen, in the Kunsthalle Bern, in the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, in the Tate Gallery in London. In 1984 the Munch-Jorn-Kirkeby exhibition took place in the Stedelijk van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. Individual exhibitions were also specifically devoted to his graphic work, such as Per Kirkeby in 2014 Bronze, drypoint, wood in the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich or in 2015 the solo exhibition Per Kirkeby. The etched life's work in the Museum Jorn in Silkeborg.
Per Kirkeby died in Copenhagen on 9 May 2018.