16/6/2009
Per Kirkeby
Tate Modern, London
Solo show
The work of Danish artist resists easy categorisation. Over the past four decades he has created an oeuvre that encompasses paintings on hardboard and canvas, blackboards, works on paper, small and large-scale bronze sculptures, ambitious brick structures and actual architecture, as well as an extensive body of writings that bear witness to his exceptional erudition. Such diverse terrains as nature, art history and popular culture are explored with a sense of curiosity and enquiry whose near-scientific rigour can be traced back to the artist's original university training as a geologist. This exhibition surveys Kirkeby's career up to the present moment with a particular focus on painting which has always formed the heart of his practice. Curated by Achim Borchardt-Hume with Cliff Lauson, assistant curator.