Michael Werner Gallery, New York is pleased to present an exhibition by Danish artist Per Kirkeby (b. 1938, d. 2018). One of the most influential and versatile artists of his generation, Kirkeby worked in an astounding array of media. This exhibition presents a rare opportunity to see his paintings on masonite and bronze sculptures together, each of which occupy a unique place in his oeuvre.

Kirkeby painted on masonite throughout the entire length of his career. The hard, flat surface of masonite allowed him to play with space. Kirkeby states, “You put a line on a piece of paper or you take a brush or your thumb dipped in some ochre and rub it up on a cave wall and then you have a space. We’re in a space and we make a space. And by making it flat you can handle it.”  Kirkeby considered the paintings on masonite to be more personal, and even more dynamic, than his paintings on canvas. Due to the long, storied history of paintings on canvas, Kirkeby felt the compositions needed to be more “crystallized”. In comparison, his paintings on masonite incorporated unconventional materials, such as collage and chalk, allowing Kirkeby to experiment with structure, form, and motif.

Kirkeby started creating bronze sculptures in the early 1980s to pull himself out of a brief “artistic crisis”. His career was growing internationally, and Danish critiques of his art accused him of being too commercial. Like the paintings on masonite, the bronzes allowed him to play with space, but in a more tactile way. Kirkeby writes, “It is almost impossible to fixate a sculpture. It is best seen in passing, from the side. Individual details are difficult to get a hold of: they turn away from you. And even the nature of the material is so concrete, so much of this world, that it spurns dreams.” Kirkeby’s bronze sculptures became an important part of his oeuvre. They allowed him to incorporate figuration and the work of his sculptural heroes, like Michealangelo and Auguste Rodin. The sculptures defined him as an accomplished “painter-sculptor” in line with his German contemporaries, Markus Lüpertz and A.R. Penck.

An internationally celebrated painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and author, works by Kirkeby are found in many museum collections worldwide including Tate, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and Museum of Modern Art, New York, among many others. Important solo museum exhibitions include Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk; Museum Jorn, Silkeborg; the Beaux-Arts de Paris; The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels; Tate Modern, London; IVAM Centre del Carme, Valencia; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Whitechapel Gallery, London; and Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. In 2023, two important exhibitions of Kirkeby’s works were held at ARKEN Museum of Modern Art in Ishøj and Museo Tamayo in Mexico City.

Per Kirkeby: Paintings on Masonite and Bronzes opens to the public on Wednesday 10 April. A catalogue will accompany the exhibition. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10AM to 6PM.