Per Kirkeby
Works
Solo exhibitions
Group exhibitions
Biography & CV
Per Kirkeby (1938-2018) was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he lived and worked. Kirkeby studied Natural History at the University of Copenhagen from 1957-1964 and from 1962 he was a part of The Experimental Art School (The Ex-School) in Copenhagen. He was appointed Professor at the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlruhe in 1978 and at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main in 1989.
Per Kirkeby collaborated with Galleri Susanne Ottesen since the 1980s and with sole focus on the brick sculptures since 2015. Kirkeby made his first brick sculptures in 1965 and thereafter developed his work with bricks in several directions. A large part of the brick sculptures has been built up in public spaces across Europe, either placed in urban spaces, in parks or sometimes in landscapes far from civilisation.
Important exhibitions in collaboration with Galleri Susanne Ottesen include the showing of Kirkeby’s collected bronze sculptures at Den Frie Udstillingsbygning in 1985 and the solo exhibition Nye Malerier in 1995, which included the painting Vinterbillede, a ground-breaking work in Kirkeby’s oeuvre and now part of the collection of the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK).
Kirkeby’s brick sculptures are represented in several prominent public collections worldwide, notably the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK) in Denmark and Tate in the UK.
Selected solo exhibitions
-
2023
Evocation of posterity, Tamayo Museo Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexcio (upcoming)
PER KIRKEBY – BRICKS, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark
Isolation of the Parts, Galleri Susanne Ottesen, Copenhagen, Denmark -
2020
Per Kirkeby – Bronze, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
Per Kirkeby, Nordhorn, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Wijnegem, Belgium -
2019
Per Kirkeby, Brick Sculptures, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Wijnege, Belgium
Per Kirkeby 1938 – 2018, Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Cologne, Germany
Umetnički prostor Nemačka – Art Space Germany – Kunstraum Deutschland, Museum Of Contemporary Art Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia
Nordic Impressions Contemporary Art From Åland, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, And Sweden, Scandinavia House, New York, USA.
Hauptsache Kopf, Kunsthalle in Emden, Emden, Germany
Blickachsen 12, Skulpturenbiennale Blickachsen, Bad Hamburg, Germany -
2018
Per Kirkeby, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, France
Per Kirkeby: Machines for Light and Shadow, Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark
Per Kirkeby: Paintings and Bronzes from the 1980s, Michael Werner Gallery, New York, USA
Carte Blanche, Vidal-Bertoux Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Collagen, Galerie Michael Werner, Märkisch Wilmersdorf, Germany
A New Spirit Then, A New Spirit Now: 1981-2018, Almine Rech, New York, USA
A New Spirit Then, A New Spirit Now: 1981-2018, Almine Rech, London, UK
Per Kirkeby: Matter is Light, Château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, France
Per Kirkeby, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria
Per Kirkeby: Kosmos, Schloss Gottorf, Landesmuseen Schleswig-Holstein, Schleswig, Germany
Karneval der Tiere, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Luzern, Switzerland
As Far as the Eye Can See, Kunsthalle Würth, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany
Detour, Artipelag, Gustavsberg, Sweden
Starry Nights, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark -
2017
Brick Sculptures, Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris, France
Platform, The Armory Show, New York, USA
Blackboards and Brick Works, Cahiers d’Art, Paris, France
Rodin, L’exposition du Centenaire, la Réunion des musées nationaux, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Per Kirkeby, Franz Marc Museum, Kochel am Se, Germany -
2016
Per Kirkeby: The Blue of the Avant-garde, Kunstforeningen GL Strand, Copenhagen
Per Kirkeby on Læsø, Læsø Kunsthal, Læsø, Denmark
Per Kirkeby, Museo d’arte Mendrisio, Mendrisio, Switzerland
Per Kirkeby, Galerie Sabine Knust, Munich, Germany
