Poul Gernes - Untitled
Untitled (1966-67), by Danish artist, Poul Gernes (1925-1996). Gernes is one of the great Danish artists of the post-war generation. In many ways, he pioneered a new perception of art and the role of the artist in society - not least with his portraits of figures, for example stripes, circles or, as here, squares. The work is printed on extra strong, uncoated paper.
Poul Gerne's systemic work series from the latter half of the 1960s can be seen as part of the artist's struggle against the commercial art market and the cultivation of the artist myth. Instead of people, Gernes portrayed symbols, that is, for example, stripes, circles or squares – a Danish minimalism that the viewer could randomly hang up in series of their own choice and need, where they now fit in best, as a kind of democratic art.
Although many have later associated Gernes with the figures' cool aesthetics and brightly colored joy, they were definitely also an expression of Gernes' confrontational side.
In this way, Gernes did not strive for one to have art historical or intellectual knowledge in order to understand or interpret his works. What was really important was that people were happy and comfortable looking at and living with them – as is evident from his probably best-known works, the large, public decoration projects such as the Palads cinema in Copenhagen and Herlev Hospital.
Poul Gernes comes out of the constructivist tradition, also politically, and at the beginning of the 1960s became a focal point for the Eks school, the Experimental Art School (1961-1972), which with one stroke came to dominate not only contemporary art, but also art history writing henceforth. New methods, new materials, a new perception of the role of art and the artist in society were on the agenda.
With their experimental attitude, the artists set in motion a break-up on all fronts, and all this is unfolding precisely where Denmark is going from a post-war society to a welfare state, with many new arrangements and experiments as a result. A period in which Louisiana also has some shares.
Dimensions
29.7 cm x 42 cm