“It was the last and the only self-portrait, I ever took”. Danish artist Erik Steffensen reflects on a very special self-portrait taken in the Australian outback: “I had never seen such a long, long shadow of my own body. It was almost like something painted 5 billion years ago.”
Erik Steffensen is a Danish artist and writer born in 1961 in Valby, Copenhagen. He studied Philosophy and Art History at the University of Copenhagen and was educated at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen where he held a professorship 1998-2007. His main artistic domain is photography from analogue sources. His work is represented at Fotomuseum Winterthur (Switzerland), Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, and National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (both Denmark). Site-specific works include Strindberg Lighthouse, VUC, Haderslev, and Center for Protein Research, Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen (both Denmark).
As a writer, Erik Steffensen published his autobiography ”Valbyengelsk” in 2003. His latest books include Per Kirkeby: At trække en streg, An Artist Biography, Gyldendal (2017) and Erik Steffensen: BASIC – Black and white photographs. Steffensen has also been the curator of major exhibitions with Per Kirkeby, Olivia Holm Møller, Poul Gernes, Asger Jorn and Helmut Federle.
Erik Steffensen was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner in his studio at Vemmetofte Kloster on Stevns, Denmark in June 2021. His self-portrait is part of the Louisiana Museum’s permanent collection.
Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard
Edited by Rasmus Quistgaard
Produced by Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2021
Supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond
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