Søren Solkær (born 3 September 1969 and formerly known as Søren Solkær Starbird), is a Danish photographer best known for his portraits of musicians. He is most recognised as the man responsible for various iconic images of Björk,

The White Stripes The White Stripes were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums wit ...

Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. Fr ...

, David Lynch,

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, ...

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and U2.

Early life

He was born in

Sønderborg (; german: Sonderburg ) is a Danish town in the Region of Southern Denmark. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Sønderborg Municipality (Kommune). The town has a population of 27,766 (1 January 2022),Århus University, then later a B.A. in Photography at the

Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague The Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague ( cs, Filmová a televizní fakulta Akademie múzických umění v Praze) or FAMU is a film school in Prague, Czech Republic, founded in 1946 as one of three branches of the Acade ...

(FAMU) in the Czech Republic. He established a studio in Copenhagen in 1996. When he married in 2001 took the surname Starbird from his American wife. After the marriage ended, Søren reverted to his birth name Søren Solkær.

Career

In the beginning of his artistic career, Søren teamed up with Sune Rose Wagner of

The Raveonettes The Raveonettes are a Danish indie rock duo, consisting of Sune Rose Wagner on guitar, instruments and vocals, and Sharin Foo on bass, guitar and vocals. Their music is characterized by close two-part vocal harmonies inspired by The Everly Br ...

on various projects, with Sune at one point accompanying him as his assistant on shoots. Søren was responsible for the strong visual tone of The Raveonettes from the early stages of their career, and he also made his music video directorial debut with "Beat City" – the second single released from The Raveonettes' '' Whip It On'' (2002) album. His collaboration with the band during the 1990s and 2000s marked his entry into the Danish music scene as a photographer of musicians. Concurrent to his work with musicians, Solkær furthered his specialisation in portraits by undertaking an eight-year project. ''Photographers Posed'' comprised 45 photographers from 15 countries, including Arnold Newman,

Duane Michals Duane Michals ( "Michaels"; born February 18, 1932) is an American photographer. Michals's work makes innovative use of photo-sequences, often incorporating text to examine emotion and philosophy. Education and career Michals's interest in ar ...

Pierre et Gilles Pierre Commoy and Gilles Blanchard, also known as Pierre et Gilles, are French artists and romantic partners. They have been producing works together since 1976, creating a world where painting and photography meet. Their art is peopled by their ...

, Anton Corbijn,

Jan Saudek Jan Saudek (born 13 May 1935) is an art photographer and painter. Jan Saudek's art work represents a unique technique combining photography and painting. In his country of origin, Czechoslovakia, Jan was considered a disturbed artist and oppres ...

and Jeanloup Sieff. The collection featured Solkær's portrayals of the style associated with each of his subjects and was exhibited in galleries in Chicago, Copenhagen,

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, Prague and

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

. Solkær was contributing photographer for ''

Q Magazine ''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series '' The Old Grey Whistle Test''. ...

'', ''

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'' and '' GQ''. As a result, he toured with Franz Ferdinand in Russia, Metallica in Portugal and Oasis in Argentina. He has also moved into the world of cinema, photographing

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-M ...

Danny Boyle Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on films including '' Shallow Grave'', '' Trainspotting'' and its sequel '' T2 Trainspotting'', '' The Beach'', ''28 Days Later'', '' S ...

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, David Lynch and

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

. In addition, he has taken pictures for '' EKKO'', ''

Gaffa ''Gaffa'' (stylized as ''GAFFA'') is a free Nordic music magazine with local editions in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''Gaffa'' is Denmark's largest and oldest music magazine. It has been published since 1983 and has 320,000 print readers and ...

'' and '' Soundvenue''. He has been commissioned by

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

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and

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

to photograph individual artists and groups, including Metallica, The White Stripes, Primal Scream,

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, R ...

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, Tom Jones,

Regina Spektor Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (russian: Регинa Ильинична Спектор, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian–born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in ...

, Stereophonics,

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and

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. In addition to his work with celebrities, between 1999 and 2009, Solkær photographed thousands of practitioners of Raja yoga meditation in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

, India. In 2009 he portrayed a large delegation of spiritual leaders at the UN Cop 15 Summit in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. At Roskilde Festival in 2009 he built a studio in a shipping container and for 6 days, took photos of festivalgoers.

Works

Solkær has released five photography books. ''Beat City'' (2006) documents his earlier work with musicians juxtaposed with cinematic city scapes from across the world whilst his followup, ''CLOSER'' (2011), is a hard-cover coffee table book containing 238 pages of portraits of musicians. In late 2011, Solkær released his third book, ''Souls''. Souls features portraits of meditating yogis taken on the top of

Mount Abu Mount Abu () is a hill station in the Aravalli Range in Sirohi district of the state of Rajasthan in western India.The mountain forms a rocky plateau 22 km long by 9 km wide. The highest peak on the mountain is Guru Shikhar at above ...

, India – the result of Solkær's seven journeys to the region. The project has been exhibited in New York, Oxford, Copenhagen, Milan, Naples, Bratislava and

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

. Solkær's fourth book, SURFACE, with portraits of street artists and graffiti writers, was released by Gingko Press in 2015. His fifth book, Portraits 1993-2018 was released in 2018. The CLOSER exhibition in Øksnehallen, Copenhagen was noteworthy for its scale – occupying over 24,000 square feet of exhibition space and featuring 327 images in formats up to 3x4.5 meters. The exhibition was largely praised by the Danish media and received a 'six out of six' rating from ''

Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been indepe ...

'' and was subsequently nominated for best Cultural Event 2009 by '' AOK''. Notably, Solkær's images are featured in the cover art for Franz Ferdinand's 2009 album '' Tonight: Franz Ferdinand'' as well as Stereophonics' seventh studio album '' Keep Calm and Carry On''. Solkær's works are also featured as part of the permanent collection in the

Royal Danish Library The Royal Library ( da, Det Kongelige Bibliotek) in Copenhagen is the national library of Denmark and the university library of the University of Copenhagen. It is among the largest libraries in the world and the largest in the Nordic countries ...

and The National Portrait Collection in

Frederiksborg Castle Frederiksborg Castle ( da, Frederiksborg Slot) is a palatial complex in Hillerød, Denmark. It was built as a royal residence for King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway in the early 17th century, replacing an older castle acquired by Frederick ...

, Denmark.

Selected solo exhibitions

* 2019: BLACK SUN, Minä Perhonen Galleria, Kyoto Japan * 2018: SURFACE, Museum of Urban Contemporary Art, Munich * 2018: BLACK SUN, Sage Gallery, Los Angeles * 2018: 25 year portrait retrospective, The National Portrait Gallery, Frederiksborg Castle, Denmark * 2017: SURFACE, UTZON CENTER, Aalborg, Denmark * 2017: CLOSER, Martin Asbæk Gallery * 2016: SURFACE, Vroom&Varossieau Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland * 2015: SURFACE, Øksnehallen, Copenhagen, Denmark * 2015: SURFACE, The Burrard Arts Center, Vancouver, Canada * 2015: SURFACE, Allouche Gallery, New York, USA * 2015: SURFACE, Art Equity, Sydney, Australia * 2015: SURFACE, Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles, USA * 2015: SURFACE, NKN Gallery, Melbourne, Australia * 2015: SURFACE, Art Equity, Sydney, Australia * 2014: Face to Face, Kistefos Museum, Norway * 2013: Face to Face, Trapholt Museum, Kolding, Denmark * 2012: CLOSER. Art Equity, Sydney, Australia * 2012: CLOSER. The Danish Cultural Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland * 2011: CLOSER. Halvandet, Copenhagen, Denmark * 2011: CLOSER. Gibson Gallery, London, U.K. * 2010: CLOSER. Spazio Lattuada, Milan, Italy * 2009: CLOSER. Øksnehallen, Copenhagen, Denmark * 2008: Souls. Mazzotta Art Selection/eg22, Milan, Italy * 2007: Souls. Inner Space, Oxford, England * 2006: Beat City. Horsens Kunstmuseum, Denmark * 2006: Beat City. Århus Kunstbygning, Denmark * 2005: Beat City. Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen, Denmark * 2005: Souls. Reykjavík Town Hall Gallery, Iceland * 2004: Souls. Month of Photography, Bratislava, Slovakia. * 2004: Souls. Øksnehallen, Copenhagen, Denmark * 2004: Metropol. Vega, Copenhagen, Denmark. * 2003: Third Eye. IN CAMERA Gallery, Chelsea, New York * 1998: Photographers Posed. Schneider Gallery, Chicago, USA * 1998: Photographers Posed. Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense, Denmark * 1997: Photographers Posed. Fotokina, Cologne, Germany * 1996: Photographers Posed. Frederiks Bastion, Copenhagen, Denmark * 1995: Photographers Posed. Galleri Radost FX, Prague, Czech Republic

Inspirations and style

Solkær's photography is characterised by finding a tension point between intimacy and edginess. His portraits are often regarded as cinematic in tone with a distinctive colour palette. He cites the inspirations for his style as ranging from filmmakers David Lynch and

Wong Kar-Wai Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1958) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films are characterised by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colours. A pivotal figure ...

through to the works of photographer

Philip-Lorca diCorcia Philip-Lorca diCorcia (born 1951) is an American photographer, living in New York City. He teaches at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.Release: David Zwirner - Philip-Lorca diCorcia: ''Thousand'' (February 27 - March 28, 2009). Retrieved ...

and painter Caspar David Friedrich.

Critical reception

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of alternative rock band R.E.M. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Pos ...

commented that "Søren has a great understanding of light, and a rare eye for beauty and portraiture," while

Alex Kapranos Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley (born 20 March 1972) is a Scottish musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and author. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand. He has also been a part of the ...

of Franz Ferdinand said that "working with Søren, nothing feels invasive or exploitative. You trust him and you forget about his lens. It becomes invisible. It makes him the photographer he is - not just how he responds to his light meter, sets his aperture or chooses a composition, but how he can capture what makes us the humans we are." Ricky Wilson of

Kaiser Chiefs Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 2000 as Parva, releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their current name that same year. Since their formation the band h ...

once jokingly remarked "anyone who can keep five uninterested grown men in coats from Leeds in his view-finder for more than five seconds, must be some kind of a genius."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Solkaer, Soren Starbird 20th-century Danish photographers 21st-century Danish photographers Danish photographers 1969 births Living people Aarhus University alumni People from Sønderborg Municipality Academy of Performing Arts in Prague alumni