Kirsten Justesen
SOL DRAABER/ SUN DROPS
Exhibition 24 September – 24 October 2015
Opening reception Thursday 24 September at 16-19.00
The exhibition shows a collection of Kirsten Justesen's works in clay..
LEAFS - DANCE WOMEN - HORSES - LIONS – STAGE OPENINGS - RIDERS
and SUN DROPS made at Tommerup Ceramic Workshop 2015www.keramos.dk
Kirsten Justesen's activities comprise a wide range of genres, from body art and performance art to sculptures and installation.
Justesen was part of the avant-garde scene of the 1960s, where she became a pioneering figure within the three-dimensional modes of art incorporating the artist's own body as artistic material.
These experiments led her in the direction of the so-called feminist art which challenged traditional value systems during the 1970s.
Her later works constitute broader investigations of relationships between body, space, and language.
See VIDEOS: channel.louisiana.dk/video/kirsten-justesen-my-body-my-gaze
www.smk.dk/udforsk-kunsten/kunsthistorier/kunstnere/vis/kirsten-justesen..
..The three dimensions are Kirsten Justesen's focal point from the imprint of the body in space, to the body at the pedestal and body in dialogue with the material such as hard, soft, cold, warm.
The artist uses her own body as a tool, discusses the relationship between object and subject.
It is not about the self-portrait or confession, but to use what is close by, at hand, and to set ones own body in play as a material or figure in line of the classical female sculpture. - The body as an icon..
Above PHOTOS - 1. VESSEL 1960.. in this exhibition.
2. K.Justesen works in the studio of Ane Brügger, Laurbjerg 1965.
3. Sculpting Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen, Nikolaj Art Gallery 2014.
4. Esben Lyngsaa, Gunhild Rudjord & K.Justesen, Tommerup 2015.
Kirsten Justesen exhibits new works - yellow SUN DROPS in clay.
Solar drops are not tangible, but float so well in the air..
- How will they look like in the earthy material, clay?
- The challenge is vigorous, artistically free - and intriguing.
Clay has expressed many artists' visions.. The Gallery looks forward to exhibiting this marvelous material transformed by one of Denmark's strongest female contemporary artists.
The exhibition also shows Leaves, Dance Women, Riders and Stage Openings
- and ceramic elements from previous works and investigations.
KIRSTEN JUSTESEN - www.kirstenjustesen.com
Born in 1943. She currently lives and works in Copenhagen.
She attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Sculpture and Mural Department, and holds an BA in Art Theory.
She has been a visiting professor frequently lecturing at the departments of Art, Theatre and Language at universities and art schools in Scandinavia the USA, and the Middle East.
Rutgers University, New Brunswick USA, sup. professor at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, 1994. BEZALEL The Academy of Fine Arts, Jerusalem and The Academy of Fine Arts Umeå, Sweden, Bergen and Oslo, Norway.
PHOTOS of PREVIOUS WORKS - and exhibitions:
Katrine reliefs- commissions project
CERAMIC BIOGRAHY
Kirsten Justesen has worked with clay in the studio of Ane Brügger, Laurbjerg 1965 (1st studio photo/top) and Birthe Weggerby, Jutland Art Accademy 1965-68.The first ceramic exhibition in Gallery EXI, Odense 1964.
A number of large jars shown in Ulfborg Art Society 1965.Ceramic sketches and preparatory work for the Katrine Commission in Hjørring was shown at the Køge Sketches and Vendsyssel Art Museum 1985.
Preparatory work done at Bent G. Rasmussen, Mors.
Ceramic art commission KATRINE FROM HJØRRING Godthaab, Hjørring and Hjørring Hospital Chapel in 1986 was undertaken at the local brickyard.Ceramic commission at Boholteskolen, Køge was carried out as a project in a number of primary schools in Køge area 1986.
Exhibited at Køge Town Hall 1986.
FAMA CONCERN, 51 oxidized stoneware figures 1996-97 was made at Tommerup Building Ceramics.Deposited by The New Carlsberg Art Foundation at CLAY - Denmark's Ceramics Museum.
TRAVEL PIECES, stoneware, Copy-Dan 2000, Tommerup.
In addition, several ceramic public commission proposals.
Models for fountains includes Vendsyssel Art Museum.
She often uses clay as a sketching material.
MEMBER OF The Danish Academy of Fine Art
AWARDS & GRANTS Anne Marie Telmanyi Award, 1991; The Danish National Art Foundation 3-year scholarship, 1994; The Ny Carlsberg Foundation Travel Scholarship, 1996; The Eckersberg Medal, 1996. Honoary grant from The Danish Art Foundation,1998. The Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Award 2002; The Anna Nordlander Award 2003; The Thorvaldsen Medal 2005 and holding an ISCP, New York Residency 2006.
PUBLICATIONS
ICE SCRIPT, Meltingtime #17, 2013; MY BODY IS MY TOOL, Randers Art Museum 2013; 64 – PURSUITS AND COLLECTIONS a female miscellany by Kirsten Justesen and other little women children born 1940-1945 in 2008; MELTINGTIME # 11 2003, MELTING IN TIME 2006; RE KOLLEKTION 1999, KORS DRAG 1999
Justesen has illustrated books, magazines, designed posters and a series of chasubles for Kapernaum Church in Copenhagen.
REPRESENTATIONS
Justesen is represented in private and public collections, including Statens Museum for Kunst /The National Gallery of Denmark; KUNSTEN Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Aalborg; The New Carlsberg Foundation; CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art, Denmark; The Art Museum Brundlund Castle; Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde; Theatre Museum at the Court Theatre; The Danish Art Council; Hälsingborg Art Museums; MAN Museum Anna Nordlander, Sweden; National Gallery of Czech Republic; The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC
SCENOGRAPHY at a number of Danish theatres and ballet companies since 1967. She established the Scenography Department at The Danish National School of Performing Arts 1985-1990 and has produced concept, production design and librettos in co-operation with the Randi Patterson Company.
CURATOR of “Body as Membrane” together with VALIE EXPORT for Art Hall Brandts DK & Nordic Arts Centre 1995; “SKETCHES”. The Faroe Island's National Art Museum. “DIAMONDS“, première at City Theatre Usti nad Labe, Czech Republic 1997.
