"I understand my paintings as a summation of structures. A sedimentation of thin layers. Only in extreme desperation does a thick layer emerge. In principle, an endless sedimentation. But it is striking that the underlying structure always breaks through, even if a new layer has a completely different motif and colour."
Galerie Michael Werner, Berlin is pleased to present "Overpaintings", a solo exhibition by the Danish artist Per Kirkeby (1938-2018) with an extensive selection of 27 paintings from this special group of works. Kirkeby began experimenting with overpaintings in the mid-1960s; during this early phase, the artist questions the notion of originality and explores the theme of memory.
Kirkeby overpainted a wide variety of materials, including reproductions of romantic paintings, pornography and amateur pictures. The submittals are mostly found objects that friends of the artist acquire at flea markets; Kirkeby himself has never chosen the subjects for the overpaintings. In this exhibition, works from the later phase of the 1980s and 2010s can be seen, they pick up on the theme of earlier paintings and form part of an ongoing series.
Per Kirkeby's interest in multi-layered structures reveals in his professional training as a geologist and extends into his painting practice. Especially in the overpaintings, a parallel can be seen between the geologist's profession and the formal content related aspects of the works.
With his overpaintings Kirkeby confronts the viewer with two different images – on the one hand the original and on the other hand a newly created image on top. Significant to this is Kirkeby's treatment of the original; the focus is not destroying the painting, but rather Kirkeby's artistic practice is based on the continuation of the existing image. His claim lies in the exploration of the subject, Kirkeby searches for alternative structures within the originals and brings his own memories and experiences into the process.
Per Kirkeby divides the overpaintings into two categories. Synchronous pictures which show only slight changes in the forms, at one time the original is only overpainted with fine brushstrokes, another time a splash of paint breaks the idyll of the picture. In the unsynchronised pictures, the painting is often so dense that the original is hardly recognisable. The underlying image disappears behind a series of layers, in some cases the intervention goes as far that a portrait format becomes a landscape format, or vice versa.
All together, the images form an accumulation of thin layers on top of the original painting. As a viewer, one is always tempted to decode the structure of the overpainting and recognise the original underneath. The principle of endless deposition refers not only to the different painterly layers, first and foremost to an original, foreign layer that remains physically intact. Starting from the search for meaningful structures and forms in the original motif and the newly created layers on top, Per Kirkeby achieves a new reality.
Quote: Per Kirkeby, Bravura, Bern - Berlin 1984, S. 186.
The exhibition "Per Kirkeby - Overpaintings" opens on 18 February at Galerie Michael Werner, Berlin and is on view until 1 April 2022. Gallery opening hours are Tuesday to Friday, 11am to 6pm and Saturday, 10am to 4pm. For more information, please contact the gallery at [email protected] or by phone at +49 (0)30 31491880.
