Isn’t it intriguing that a gallery can champion the unconventional? Marie Kirkegaard Gallery stands here in central Copenhagen. It is a space dedicated to visionary contemporary art.
Marie Kirkegaard established this gallery in 2011. She had an ambition to create a new and expressive artistic program. Her special focus was on the expressive possibilities of drawing. The gallery aimed to create ambitious experiences with contemporary art. It did this through exclusive solo projects. These projects showed drawing in its expanded and interdisciplinary field.
Marie Kirkegaard Gallery represents a diverse group. This group includes younger and established Danish and international contemporary artists. Their artistic work is rooted in a dynamic approach to drawing. This makes their artistic expression diverse. It is shown in a wide range of media. These media include sculpture, painting, total installation, and video.
Marie Kirkegaard had a special interest in promoting drawing as an art form. She focused especially on her own generation of young artists. The location close to Charlottenborg and the Art Academy was likely not a coincidence.
Initially, the gallery was named SoD Space of Drawings. In 2013, it changed its name to Marie Kirkegaard Gallery. Since then, it has hosted changing exhibitions. These exhibitions feature Danish and international artists. Marie Kirkegaard has presented them with passion on the Danish art scene.
Several artists have exhibited here. Mette Vangsgaard, Zven Balslev, and Jon Stahn are some of the danish artists. Silas Inoue and Johanne Skovbo Lasgaard are other Danish artists. Rieko Hotta is a japanese artist, Shahla K. Friberg is from Canada/Sweden. John Knuth is from America.
Past events at Marie Kirkegaard Gallery include Shahla K. Friberg’s “One in the whole.” Silas Inoue’s “Lucky Capsule” was also exhibited here. “Love Your Monsters” by Shabu shabu also was showcased. Mette Vangsgaard and Anna Bak have had exhibitions here. Jacob Jessen and Nanna K. Hougaard have also exhibited here.
Marie Kirkegaard Gallery presented “The stars look very different today.” This was a joint exhibition by Shahla K. Friberg and Christian Finne. The exhibition explored chaos theory. It emphasized process and materiality. Friberg and Finne had never met. However, their approach to art-making connected through color, line, light, and space.
Friberg cuts glass shards and connects them using solder and copper foil. She builds her pieces intuitively. Her sculptures play with form, light, and reflection. Finne’s drawings bring social processes into the visual world. His art offers political and social criticism. His work gives ephemeral moments of mind expansion a visual language.
Marie Kirkegaard closed the gallery in Holbergsgade after 12 years. Her gallery represented a special heart. It had a heart for the skewed, the challenging, the experimental, and the funny in art. The last exhibition was “Big night down the drain” with Manuel Ocampo and Claus Carstensen.
Marie Kirkegaard is part of a group of female art professionals. They have left clear marks on the Danish art scene. Her ambition shaped a space that dared to be different. It makes Marie Kirkegaard Gallery a memorable spot in Copenhagen’s art world.