Danish constructivist Poul Gernes and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark have had a fractious relationship over the years. In 1970, during the now scandalised 'Tabernakel' exhibition, 'Gernes and three close allies of the Experimental School drove a Trojan horse into a temple of modernist sensibilities', explains current curator Anders Kold. 'They provoked founder Knud W Jensen into deciding whether this was a museum or an art centre. As we know, he chose the former.'
Perhaps because of this, the relationship between artist and art-institution lay dormant for decades. In fact, Gernes all but turned his back on galleries, switching his attention to public, interactive art. Now, 20 years after his death, the museum is burying the hatchet and revisiting Gernes' work.
Gernes is best known for large-scale art displays and decorations of public institutions, including the Herlev Hospital (which took almost a decade of the artist's time), and the Palads cinema on Copenhagen's Axeltorv. Louisiana's new exhibition, aptly named 'I cannot do it alone – want to join in?', covers this facet of Gernes' ouevre, as well as including smaller works and an impressive scale model of the unrealised The Pyramid, which was intended for the Israels Plads public square in Copenhagen in 1967.
The hope of the exhibition, explains Kold, is to follow Gernes' work not sequentially but as 'a mix of attitudes, brushstrokes, circles and hammer blows, systems and collages, as well as expressing Gernes' lifelong effort to make the world better and more beautiful with art'. But, he admits, including such an eclectic range of media and styles wasn't easy, 'and nor should it have been. Only by confronting and potentially entangling yourself with each dimension of Gernes' work can you get a true sense of it.'
Not only is the collection diverse, it is extensive. 'The other day an esteemed colleague from abroad came to view the exhibition,' Kold says, 'and she assumed that one whole gallery full of work by Gernes was another show – a group exhibition.'
It's easy to see why this assumption was made, when looking through the paintings on toilet seats, to the intricate collages and room-sized immersive installations. If Kold's intention was to 'provide an opportunity to think anew about the contributions of the artist', this thorough showcase is a great place to start.
Twenty years after his death, the museum is revisiting Gernes' work, burying the fractious relationship the artist had with the museum. Pictured: Untitled, 1962
Gernes is best known for his large-scale art displays and commissions to decorate public buildings and institutions, including the Herlev Hospital and the Palads cinema on Axeltorv, Copenhagen. Pictured: Untitled, 1992.
The intention, explains curator Anders Kold, is to follow Gernes' work not sequentially but as 'a mix of attitudes, brushstrokes, circles and hammer blows, systems and collages, as well as a lifelong effort to make life better and more beautiful with art'. Pictured: Untitled, 1992.
The collection is extensive. 'The other day an esteemed colleague from abroad came to view the exhibition,' Kold says, 'and she assumed that one whole gallery full of work by Gernes was another show – a group exhibition.' Pictured: Untitled (Dot Painting), 4 parts, 1968
INFORMATION
’Poul Gernes: I cannot do it alone – want to join in?’ is on view until 16 October. For more information, visit the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art’s website
Photography courtesy Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
ADDRESS
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Gammel Strandvej 13
DK 3050 Humlebæk
-
The bespoke Jaguar E-Type GTO melds elements from every era of the classic sports carECD Automotive Design’s one-off commission caters to a client who wanted to combine the greatest hits of Jaguar’s E-Type along with modern conveniences and more power
-
Casa Sanlorenzo debuts in Venice as a new hub for contemporary artThe luxury yachting leader unveils a stunning new space in a palazzo restored by Piero Lissoni – where art, innovation, and sustainability come together
-
Once vacant, London's grand department stores are getting a new lease on lifeThanks to imaginative redevelopment, these historic landmarks are being rebonr as residences, offices, gyms and restaurants. Here's what's behind the trend
-
Kaari Upson’s unsettling, grotesque and seductive world in DenmarkThe Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark is staging the first comprehensive survey of late artist Kaari Upson’s work
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this weekThis week saw the Wallpaper* team jet-setting to Jordan and New York; those of us left in London had to make do with being transported via the power of music at rooftop bars, live sets and hologram performances
-
San Francisco’s controversial monument, the Vaillancourt Fountain, could be facing demolitionThe brutalist fountain is conspicuously absent from renders showing a redeveloped Embarcadero Plaza and people are unhappy about it, including the structure’s 95-year-old designer
-
Ai Weiwei’s new public installation is coming soon to Four Freedoms State Park‘Camouflage’ by Ai Weiwei will launch the inaugural Art X Freedom project in September 2025, a new programme to investigate social justice and freedom
-
Miami’s new Museum of Sex is a beacon of open discourseThe Miami outpost of the cult New York destination opened last year, and continues its legacy of presenting and celebrating human sexuality
-
AI and creativity: Louisiana museum considers the human in the machine‘The Irreplaceable Human’ at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark asks what creativity is in the age of AI
-
Ursula Reuter Christiansen on her art: ‘I have to go through, and through, and through’German-Danish artist Ursula Reuter Christiansen tells Wallpaper* what drives her, as her exhibition ‘Rose Thorn’ opens at Von Bartha, Copenhagen
-
How Copenhagen’s Chart Art Fair celebrated its first decadeThe 11th Chart Art Fair highlights span architectural installations, an ongoing sculpture show, and a novice collectors’ exhibition
