Asger Jorn: Without Boundaries

The dynamic visual worlds of Asger Jorn

The Danish painter and writer Asger Jorn (1914-1973) creates dynamic pictorial worlds in his colourful paintings, some of which bear witness to humorous and playful lightness, others to apocalyptic melancholy. Driven by his great interest in the Scandinavian tradition, which grew not least in reaction to the adverse conditions of the times, Asger Jorn has painted and written tirelessly, but has also created an extensive ceramic oeuvre. His pictorial works are composed in an extraordinarily powerful visual language that oscillates between abstraction and figuration. Throughout his creative career, Asger Jorn maintained contact with numerous other fellow artists and was a founding member of both the CoBrA group and later the Situationist International. The comprehensive book accompanying the exhibition offers a concentrated selection of around 60 works, focussing on the period between the 1930s and 1970s. Major works such as "Sans bornes" from 1959/60 or "In the beginning was the image" from 1965/66 are presented and discussed in detail. The breadth of the oeuvre's media spectrum is demonstrated by the key themes and motifs that the artist repeatedly revisited throughout his entire artistic practice. The works exhibited in Hamburg and presented in the book are eloquent testimony to the intensity and enduring topicality of his work and are unquestionably part of the canon of 20th century art.

Exhibition:
Deichtorhallen Hamburg, 22/6 - 23/9/2018