Find out why this renowned artist destroys his own paintings if they are too beautiful. Watch the interview with the acclaimed Danish artist Per Kirkeby (b.1938 – d.2018), about building art on the ruins of your ideas.
”An ornament is something which repeats itself endlessly. In a way you can say life is like that. It’s an eternal appearance of exactly the same things.” The painter, poet, filmmaker and sculptor Per Kirkeby (b.1938 – d.2018) was one of the most acclaimed contemporary Danish artists. With a masters in arctic geology from 1964, Kirkeby’s interest in geology and nature in general has played a crucial role in his artistic expressions. In this interview Kirkeby talks about how the arrogance of age means that you don’t have to fulfill any expectations anymore, not your own, and not other peoples expectations: “You don’t have to give a toss.” Kirkeby says. Once you let go of your own expectations, it becomes possible to exceed them. You achieve complete artistic freedom.
“My painting isn’t good until it goes under,” Kirkeby explains. The original intention, the smart and clever beginning, is not enough to make a painting. Beauty is not enough. There must be something more, a structure. You must commit yourself, and risk everything, sacrifice the good, and go through a process of recognition, until something better is created, built upon the ruins of the original idea: “The right structure slowly emerges from the picture.”
Per Kirkeby (b.1938 – d.2018) is considered one of the most renowned artists of his generation, his skills as a painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and author making for a body of strong and unique works. His work has been shown at exhibitions worldwide including at prominent institutions such as Kunsthalle Bern, Whitechapel Gallery and Tate in London, MoMA in New York, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk and Centre Pompidou in Paris. In 1976 he represented Denmark in the Venice Biennale. Moreover, Kirkeby taught as a professor at the Art Academy in Karlsruhe and at Frankfurter Städelschule.
Per Kirkeby was interviewed by Poul Erik Tøjner at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, May 2008.
Camera: Bøje Lomholdt
Edited by: Pernille Bech Christensen and Martin Kogi
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2014
Supported by Nordea-fonden
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