Per Kirkeby: Danish Ab Ex

Per Kirkeby, Untitled, 2011, tempera on canvas, 78  x 63 inches (courtesy Michae
Per Kirkeby, Untitled, 2011, tempera on canvas, 78 x 63 inches (courtesy Michael Werner Gallery)

David Carrier reviews the exhibition Per Kirkeby New Paintings at Michael Werner Gallery, New York.

"Like Willem de Kooning, Kirkeby is a virtuoso at creating unity from... visual chaos... We Americans tend to think that Abstract Expressionism is a style of the past, dependent upon a worldview that no longer commands assent. And we have become suspicious of painterly virtuosity. This exhibition shows that we are wrong - Kirkeby’s splendid paintings demonstrate that Abstract Expressionism is a living tradition."