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PER KIRKEBY

Evocation of Posterity



MUSEO TAMAYO ARTE CONTEMPORÁNEO
On view through 15 October 2023
Curated by Andrés Valtierra

Per Kirkeby - Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

This exhibition takes as a starting point a series of paintings, drawings and brick sculptures that the Danish artist Per Kirkeby (Copenhagen, 1938-2018) produced in the seventies, following his journey to Mayan archeological sites in 1971. Trained as a Geologist, Kirkeby began his artistic development as a draughtsman during scientific expeditions to Greenland and Iceland, in which he depicted valleys, mountains and glaciers. Such voyages soon became a central aspect of his creative output. After these experiences, and combined with his study of the Danish urban landscape, Kirkeby began to conceive architecture as an accumulation of layers that bring about structural elements, ornaments, and ideas.

In contrast to the classical notion of architecture, the artist considered that every element of a construction performed all three functions, for the ornament becomes an essential part of the structure to which it is attached, and every detail conveys a conceptual content. These premises brought forth the strategies that the artist used all throughout his career and in different media.

Per Kirkeby - Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

Field notebook, 1963

During his travel to Mayan archeological sites, Kirkeby began studying the location of ancient constructions in nature, which resulted in new lines of interest within his work: on the one hand, he began considering every human product as an extension of nature’s deep history; on the other, architecture became more prominent in his pictorial practice. This exhibition will include paintings, drawings and archival material in which Kirkeby explored nature and geological features—along with several brick sculptures in which he investigated the ornament, light and ephemeral constructions. In this way, the show will present the aesthetic reflections that Kirkeby developed throughout his career—always intertwined with geology and natural history— and how this journey informed the rest of his practice throughout the years.

View more at museotamayo.org

Per Kirkeby - Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

“Frankfurt am Main (Kunsthalle Portikus)”, 1994, Ladrillos amarillos y mortero, 9 3/4 x 393 3/4 x 25 1/4 inches (24.5 x 1000 x 64.5 cm) PKB 62

Per Kirkeby - Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1978-1979

Mixed media on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 11/J

“Art history is better than creativity. It is better to know something about history than to mess around with the all too innocent creative fingers. That is false innocence. But if one knows just a little art history, one also knows the remarkable significance the still-life – the arrangement – plays as a depiction of our culture. Not just the symbolic interpretation of the empty glass, food ready to be eaten… the light snuffed out – and whilst on this; where does the light come from in these pictures; from within? From the snuffed out candle? I believe it is the latter, the echo of the snuffed out light.”

—Per Kirkeby, “On Shadows”

Grid View

Grid View Thumbnails
Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1981

Oil on canvas

78 3/4 x 94 1/4 inches

200 x 240 cm

PK 111

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1981

Oil on canvas

78 3/4 x 94 1/4 inches

200 x 240 cm

PK 111

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1982

Oil on canvas

51 1/4 x 78 3/4 inches

130 x 200 cm

PK 140

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1982

Oil on canvas

51 1/4 x 78 3/4 inches

130 x 200 cm

PK 140

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2001

Oil on canvas

78 3/4 x 43 1/4 inches

200 x 110 cm

PK 977

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2001

Oil on canvas

78 3/4 x 43 1/4 inches

200 x 110 cm

PK 977

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1998

Oil on canvas

78 3/4 x 51 1/4 inches

200 x 130 cm

PK 881

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1998

Oil on canvas

78 3/4 x 51 1/4 inches

200 x 130 cm

PK 881

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2005

Tempera on canvas

78 3/4 x 118 inches

200 x 300 cm

PK 1097

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2005

Tempera on canvas

78 3/4 x 118 inches

200 x 300 cm

PK 1097

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2011

Oil on canvas

69 x 98 1/2 inches

175 x 250 cm

PK 1353

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2011

Oil on canvas

69 x 98 1/2 inches

175 x 250 cm

PK 1353

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1981

Oil on canvas

78 3/4 x 94 1/4 inches

200 x 240 cm

PK 111

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1981

Oil on canvas

78 3/4 x 94 1/4 inches

200 x 240 cm

PK 111

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1982

Oil on canvas

51 1/4 x 78 3/4 inches

130 x 200 cm

PK 140

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1982

Oil on canvas

51 1/4 x 78 3/4 inches

130 x 200 cm

PK 140

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2001

Oil on canvas

78 3/4 x 43 1/4 inches

200 x 110 cm

PK 977

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2001

Oil on canvas

78 3/4 x 43 1/4 inches

200 x 110 cm

PK 977

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1998

Oil on canvas

78 3/4 x 51 1/4 inches

200 x 130 cm

PK 881

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1998

Oil on canvas

78 3/4 x 51 1/4 inches

200 x 130 cm

PK 881

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2005

Tempera on canvas

78 3/4 x 118 inches

200 x 300 cm

PK 1097

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2005

Tempera on canvas

78 3/4 x 118 inches

200 x 300 cm

PK 1097

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2011

Oil on canvas

69 x 98 1/2 inches

175 x 250 cm

PK 1353

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2011

Oil on canvas

69 x 98 1/2 inches

175 x 250 cm

PK 1353

Per Kirkeby - Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

“Dublin”, 1985, Ladrillos rojos y mortero, 98 1/2 x 98 1/2 x 98 1/2 inches (250 x 250 x 250 cm) PKB 14

Per Kirkeby - Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

“Painting in its simplicity is the furthest extension dealing with matter that we know. Stretches out even over our anxiety-filled, ‘normal’ perception of matter. Light is Matter – Matter is Light. And Light and Time go together. One can paint oneself out over the edges.”

– Per Kirkeby, “Painterly Poetry”

Grid View 2

Grid View 2 Thumbnails
Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1986

Gouache, India ink, charcoal, pencil on paper

19 3/4 x 25 1/2 inches

50 x 65 cm

PKZ 948

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1986

Gouache, India ink, charcoal, pencil on paper

19 3/4 x 25 1/2 inches

50 x 65 cm

PKZ 948

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1987

Gouache, charcoal, pencil on paper

25 1/4 x 36 1/4 inches

64 x 92 cm

PKZ 991

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1987

Gouache, charcoal, pencil on paper

25 1/4 x 36 1/4 inches

64 x 92 cm

PKZ 991

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled (Lyon/Laeso)”, 1987

India ink, charcoal, pencil on paper

26 x 19 3/4 inches

65.8 x 50.3 cm

PKZ 985

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled (Lyon/Laeso)”, 1987

India ink, charcoal, pencil on paper

26 x 19 3/4 inches

65.8 x 50.3 cm

PKZ 985

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1987

Chalk on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 456/B

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1987

Chalk on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 456/B

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2015

Mixed media on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 1545

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2015

Mixed media on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 1545

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2015

Mixed media on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 1561

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2015

Mixed media on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 1561

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1986

Gouache, India ink, charcoal, pencil on paper

19 3/4 x 25 1/2 inches

50 x 65 cm

PKZ 948

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1986

Gouache, India ink, charcoal, pencil on paper

19 3/4 x 25 1/2 inches

50 x 65 cm

PKZ 948

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1987

Gouache, charcoal, pencil on paper

25 1/4 x 36 1/4 inches

64 x 92 cm

PKZ 991

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1987

Gouache, charcoal, pencil on paper

25 1/4 x 36 1/4 inches

64 x 92 cm

PKZ 991

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled (Lyon/Laeso)”, 1987

India ink, charcoal, pencil on paper

26 x 19 3/4 inches

65.8 x 50.3 cm

PKZ 985

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled (Lyon/Laeso)”, 1987

India ink, charcoal, pencil on paper

26 x 19 3/4 inches

65.8 x 50.3 cm

PKZ 985

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1987

Chalk on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 456/B

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 1987

Chalk on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 456/B

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2015

Mixed media on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 1545

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2015

Mixed media on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 1545

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2015

Mixed media on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 1561

Per Kirkeby

“Untitled”, 2015

Mixed media on masonite

48 x 48 inches

122 x 122 cm

PK 1561

Per Kirkeby - Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City - Viewing Room - Michael Werner Gallery, New York, London, Beverly Hills, Athens

The Danish artist Per Kirkeby first saw the world through a scientist's eyes – as a geologist. In the early 1960s, he participated in what Joseph Beuys called the "expansion of the concept of art" with performance art and films, and it was in this context that he found a connection to the art scene in Germany. He began painting in the wake of pop art through overpaintings that increasingly became more independent works. He made a name for himself in the world of sculpture with monumental structures created using brick, the traditional building material of Northern Europe. Based on his geological knowledge, he developed a structural concept of art in the 1980s, which he then transferred to the formal processes of painting and bronze sculpture. While the German artists of his generation only approached Romantic and Nordic art rather timidly, he was able to modernize these artistic traditions without reservation by drawing on his concept of nature. In his view, the conceptual element completely retreats behind a sensual genesis of form in the sense of natura naturans, which he always derives from the motif. Per Kirkeby lived in Copenhagen and in Italy, and worked as a professor at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main between 1989 and 2000.

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