Per Kirkeby

Life
- Born 1938 in Copenhagen (still alive, age 77)
- Studied geology at the University of
Copenhagen
- Went on expeditions to Greenland, Central
America and the Arctic
- Studied at the Experimental Art School in
Copenhagen (painting, graphic arts, film and
performance)
- Owns house on Laeso island, Kattegat Bay,
Denmark
- Currently lives and works in Copenhagen, Laeso and Arnasco
Career
- Designed scenery, dcor and costumes for NYC
Ballets Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet
- Painter, sculptor, writer
- Work is exhibited widely at public and
commercial galleries in Europe and the US
- Given the name lyric expressionist
- 1981 sculptures for County Council building in
lborg
- Series of works in chalk on blackboard
- Regularly published poetry, essays and travel
books, TV and documentary films
- Produced artists books (picture novel
Landskaberne, Copenhagen, 1969)
Style
- Uses range of media
- Influenced by Pop art in 1960s, Tachism and Abstract Expressionism
- Vigorous brushwork
- Chromatically beautiful paintings
- Mostly untitled
- Modelled rough black bronzes
- Paintings tend to be abstract
- Iconographic reference to Danish landscape and female figures
- Brick sculptures are clear with strong reference to traditional
Danish housing
- Inspired by Mayan architecture (house-like, symmetrical form
(1973) at Ikast, Denmark)
Architectural Requirements/Style
- Establish relationship with immediate surroundings, built and natural
- Stand out as humble monuments
- No roof or no floor
- Allowing for a multiplicity of paths to traverse them
- Different forms: walls, labyrinths, towers, donjons
- Does not question the boundaries between sculpture
and architecture

- Images and text

- Anthropometric data (height/shoulder width/hip
width/weight)
- Any unusual physical characteristics/abilities/impairments

Distinctive character traits

Particular skills/ways of approaching sculpture projects
Favourite pieces of creative work in other media
Likes and dislikes, habits, pastimes
Spaces that would suit them

Sources
1. MUNK, JP. (2015) Per Kirkeby Artist Biography. Tate Gallery. Available from:
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/per-kirkeby-2238 (Accessed 11th November
2015)
2. WERNER, M. (2015) Per Kirkeby Biography. Michael Werner. Available from:
http://www.michaelwerner.com/artist/per-kirkeby/biography (Accessed 11th
November 2015)
3. FABRIZI, M. (2015) Per Kirkebys Brick Sculptures. Socks. Available from:
http://socks-studio.com/2015/03/26/per-kirkebys-brick-sculptures/ (Accessed 11th
November 2015)
4. VAN ACKER, W and DAVIDTS, W. (2014) If Walls Could Talk: The Brick Sculptures of
Per Kirkeby, Sahanz and Unitec ePress, Proceedings of the Society of Architectural
Historians, Australia and New Zealand: 31 Translation.
http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/64270/97188_1.pdf;j
sessionid=33D6A0E23E9DA49996F07112C245B794?sequence=1