Michael Otto Albert Kvium (born 15 November 1955) is a Danish artist. He has excelled in a number of fields such as painting, illustrating, sculpting and various performance genres. Since the early 1980s, he has created grotesque realistic works, depicting the darker side of life.

Biography

Born in

Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 61,074 (1 January 2022) and the municipality's population is 94,443 (), making it the 8th largest city in De ...

in the east of

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

, Kvium studied painting at the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Dani ...

under

Albert Mertz Albert Axel Tonndorff Mertz (31 January 1920 – 30 December 1990) was a Danish painter. He was one of the leading artists in the Linien II artists association, working in a Constructivist style in a limited number of strong colours. Biography ...

and

Stig Brøgger Stig Brøgger (8 December 1941 – 8 February 2021) was a Danish artist who worked with sculpture, painting, installations and photography. His aims have always been to show how art contributes to man's experience of life and his understanding of t ...

. His paintings and graphic works often resemble comic strip art or extensions of 17th-century Baroque paintings. They depict the more negative aspects of Western culture. Motifs include grotesque monsters, half man half woman, sometimes approaching self-portraits. In 1981, together with Erik A. Frandsen and

Christian Lemmerz Christian Lemmerz (born January 30, 1959) is a German-Danish Sculpture, sculptor and Visual arts, visual artist who attended the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara, Italy, from 1978 to 1982 and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1983 to 198 ...

, he was one of the cofounders of Værkstedet Værst, a collaborative workshop for performance art. From the 1980s, his works include virus-like shapes as part of the growth cycles. Works from the 1990s also include bandaged figures depicting paralysis and claustrophobia as can be seen in ''Kor'' (1991). Solo exhibitions at

ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum The ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum is an art museum in Aarhus, Denmark. The museum was established in 1859 and is the oldest public art museum in Denmark outside Copenhagen. On 7 April 2004, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum opened with exhibitions in a brand new m ...

(2006) and

Ordrupgaard Ordrupgaard is a state-owned art museum situated near Jægersborg Dyrehave, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The museum houses one of Northern Europe's most considerable collections of Danish and French art from the 19th and beginning of the 20th ce ...

(2007) have included large works evoking relationships with the landscape and nature. His works also include videos, comic strips and performances. He has created stage sets in collaboration with

Katrine Wiedemann Katrina or Katrine may refer to: People * Katrina (given name) * Katrine (given name) Meteorology * List of storms named Katrina, a list of tropical cyclones designated as Katrina ** Hurricane Katrina, an exceptionally powerful Atlantic hurrican ...

. Together with

, in 2000 he created an eight-hour-long silent film titled ''The Wake'' inspired by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction whi ...

''. Kvium's works are included in the collections of many of Denmark's museums and galleries.

Awards

In 2001, Kvium was awarded the

Eckersberg Medal The Eckersberg Medal (originally the ''Akademiets Aarsmedaille'' or Annual Academy Medal) is an annual award of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. It is named after Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, known as the father of Danish painting. The Ec ...

. In 2010, he was decorated with the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

References

Literature

* *''Michael Kvium: Fools'' / edited by Erlend Høyersten. - Aarhus, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, 2014. *''Saligia: Michael Kvium'' / edited by AnnCatrin Gummesson. - Helsingborg, Dunkers Kulturhus, 2015. *''Michael Kvium: Think Bigger'' / edited by Vera Westergaard ...

t al. T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...

- Kolding, Trapholt, 2017. *''Circus Europa: Michael Kvium'' / edited by Camilla Jalving ...

- Ishøj, Arken, 2017.

External links

Illustrated portrait of Michael Kvium by Lisbeth Bonde (in Danish)Michael Kvium's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kvium, Michael 1955 births Living people People from Horsens Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni 20th-century Danish painters 21st-century Danish painters 20th-century Danish illustrators 21st-century Danish illustrators Danish sculptors Danish male artists Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog Recipients of the Eckersberg Medal Male sculptors 20th-century Danish male artists Neo-expressionist artists