Current
Michael Kvium
b. 1955, Denmark
In recent years, his signature media has been painting. Kvium has also done stage design for the theatre and has exhibited all over the world. In 2001 he was the recipient of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art’s prestigious Eckersberg Medal.
In 1981, together with Erik A. Frandsen and Christian Lemmerz, 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. Solo exhibitions at ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum (2006) and Ordrupgaard (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. Together with Christian Lemmerz, in 2000 he created an eight-hour-long silent film titled “The Wake” inspired by James Joyce's Finnegan’s Wake.
Kvium's works are included in the collections of many of Denmark's museums and galleries.
The Recent Theatrical Works of Michael Kvium
Michael Kvium's strange, theatrical figures can rarely be confined to a single canvas or container. Taking a cynical eye toward political and social issues, the artist uses the grotesque and the unexpected to put a lens on the Western world. His newer works move between startling sculpture and multi-panel pieces...
