The Other Side of Hyperbole

Being an artist is not easy, and it has never been. There are both advantages and disadvantages. But the foundation of everything is common sense, which teaches one how to see and how to understand what one sees. "An artist would be wise to change careers." We’ve heard this many times, but there are also cases where it is the father who consciously initiates his son, from early childhood, into the memory of preserving the creative artistic craft.

When this "illness"—as in Klaus Jorn's case—is first transmitted and develops away from the father (even though the father remains ever-present), it does not lead to a resolution, but rather to an existential choice, a continuous process that encompasses the positive influence and the immortality hidden in the transmission, as well as a favorable opportunity offered by human nature itself. Various exceptions have clearly shown us that in the conscious act, one must address the audience directly, as the work moves in an opposite direction and seeks its own continuity, which immediately makes it clear to us that Asger Jorn's son should not necessarily be considered a copy of his father, even though they share the same surname.

Klaus Jorn painted alongside his father as a child, traveled with him, and frequented the Parisian artistic milieu of the late 1950s. He also worked in his father's studio, helping, among other things, to stretch canvases. He learned how to construct a painting but left home during his teenage years. After a deep internal crisis that led him into isolation and self-destruction, he has now completely freed himself from the historical baggage that weighed him down and strives, as he puts it, to "find balance in the world through visual art."

It would be meaningless to delve into every detail that connects his life to that of his father. One could fill entire books with stories rooted in cohesion and love, passion and rebellion, but it is worth noting that the "result" is Klaus Jorn's own maturity, and what matters is his body of work.

Klaus Jorn finds great support in music for his artistic endeavors. He never pressures himself to draw more than one picture a day, and while working, he often listens to music. Ever since childhood, he has loved clarinets. He owns five, one of which he built himself from a piece of wood. He is fond of Plato, Kierkegaard, and Freud. He criticizes H.C. Andersen and speaks of Freud as if he were a fellow writer who failed at writing a novel when addressing sexuality but was spot-on in discussing the ego, the id, and the superego.

The daily practice of drawing and painting on paper holds great significance for Klaus Jorn. He often visits churches in Copenhagen, and before starting to paint, he performs rituals that he describes in a way that sends chills down your spine. He stopped playing jazz several years ago, preferring traditional genres that he used to perform in jazz clubs in the past. The mention of jazz brings to mind musician Joe Jackson's words, which seem to describe Klaus Jorn's art: "Art is timeless; it paints an inner time." His art reaches toward infinity. He himself says that it depicts a limitless journey. He adds that the beauty and intensity of a painting are like an "egg," with the yolk representing the essential and the journey toward the center.

Notre Dame in Paris is one of the churches he cherishes most. Its two towers symbolize a balance between two forces, and this balance is precisely what he strives for in his art: the love and friendship between two beings, always represented in his works by two symbols of closure and openness, respectively.

The attentive observer can and should note the many influences that have shaped Jorn. These date back to Plato's "Apology" and the dialogue "Gorgias," where we encounter the charismatic Socrates. This is evident, for instance, in the emphasis Jorn places on the quality of life over its duration, his discourse on the absence of time, and the myth of the "naked" human being and the use of the body as a metaphor in argumentation, as he recounts his search for the mother. Klaus Jorn says that his artistic journey began the day he learned to draw a triangle. The triangle is the opposite of a woman's curves, and since then, starting with this triangle, he has consistently aimed to create a unique, unified work.

The attentive observer will also notice how, as happened with certain artists in the 19th century and some in the first half of the 20th century, since the 1960s, there has been a return to a philological-classical visual world. This has produced some of the most radical and groundbreaking speculative positions in painting. In speaking of Plato, Socrates, Kierkegaard, and Freud, the artist sets boundaries and rejects any possibility of renewal; instead, he stands firm on the significance of antiquity and the unchangeable nature of Truth and the Word. This ancient, anti-historical, and non-contemporary viewpoint contrasts with the historicism that seems to creep into the geo-art and neo-conceptual movements of our time.

"At a certain point, humans reach a cognitive stance and create their knowledge," says Carlo Michelstaedter (Gorizia 1887–Gorizia 1910). "The work confirms its entire personality, provided the method and the right to creation remain intact. And this is the decisive point: reason, the absolute: the divine." (C. Michelstaedter). This attitude toward knowledge characterizes the few who critique modern science. To criticize modern science is to reject the false "certainty" that science and the "scientific" society promise their followers by integrating them into a machinery of convenience and consumption, thereby depriving them of their individual responsibility. Instead of the overconfident, we encounter here the armored man. He represents the other side of hyperbole. (See C. Michelstaedter: "La persuasione e la rettorica," ed. Sergio Campailla, Adelphi, 2nd ed., Milan, 1986).

Gabriele Perretta

(Thanks are extended to Tine Koefoed for collaborating on and editing the interview that formed the basis of this text)

Reviews

In the Footsteps of His Father
Klaus Jorn at Stalke

The Danish painter Klaus Jorn, who made his debut last January with an exhibition at Gallery Alexander Wood in New York, is now showcasing his work in Denmark. This takes place at the Mezzanine of Stalke Galleri on Vesterbrogade from today until June 24.

Asger Jorn's 49-year-old son started painting late—or at least exhibiting late. While his father was alive, they worked closely together. The title of Klaus Jorn's debut exhibition in New York was "Letters to My Father" with the subtitle "The Other Side of the Hyperbole."

To explain the subtitle, the Italian critic Gabrielle Perretta cites a quote from C. Michelstaedter in her introduction to the exhibition:

"The work confirms its entire personality when only the method and the right to creation remain intact. And that is what constitutes the decisive point, reason, the absolute: the divine."

— This stance on knowledge characterizes the few who critique modern science, writes Gabrielle Perretta. To criticize modern science is to renounce the false "security" that science and the "scientific" society promise its adherents, as it incorporates them into a machinery of convenience and consumption, absolving them of their responsibilities as individuals. In contrast to the convinced adherent, we are faced with the "armored man." He represents the other side of the hyperbole.

The paintings Klaus Jorn is now exhibiting at Stalke in Copenhagen are described by the gallery as mental confrontations, "Images."

— Time and the myth of the naked human are central concepts in his artistic universe, writes Stalke about Klaus Jorn.

Simultaneously with Klaus Jorn's exhibition at the Mezzanine, Stalke Galleri is showing an exhibition of the American abstract expressionist Michael Goldberg whose works were part of the gallery's September 1987 exhibition that marked the opening of Stalke Galleri in Copenhagen.

By Leif Ahm

Politiken 2.6.1989

Familiar Letters

KLAUS JORN

Stalke Gallery, Vesterbrogade 15 A. Open Tuesday to Friday 12–5:30 PM, Saturday 11 AM–3 PM. Until June 24.

"Letters to My Father," the name of the exhibition, refers to a famous painting by Asger Jorn. Now the son is honoring the father. Klaus Jorn (born 1941), who grew up alongside his father, worked with him but eventually lost him, debuted last year at Alexander Wood Gallery in New York City with the exhibition "Letters to My Father."

The exhibition can now be seen in Copenhagen.

Klaus Jorn’s works, which have been described as outsider art, are simple, almost childlike, drawings imbued with messages of emotional conflict. At the same time, they also contain sensitive and urgent appeals to care for one another in a world where the fragile cycle of life is marked by anxiety and trauma.

One might fear that the reputation will result in speculative acquisitions and newfound interest. Imagine that!

Here we have the son of one of Denmark’s few contributors to international art, and he paints himself!

Still, it’s a unique experience to encounter Klaus Jorn’s distinctive world, so put some time aside and visit Stalke with your family basket.

At the same time, it is also an opportunity to revisit the decorative, expressionistic works of New Yorker Michael Goldberg (born 1924), also presented at Galleri Weinberger.

Torben Weirup

Berlingske Tidende 2.6 1989

The Heavy Legacy

Klaus Jorn. Galleri Stalke, Vesterbrogade 15. Tue-Fri 12-17:30, Sat 11-15. Until June 24.

One and a half years ago, Klaus Jorn had his debut exhibition in New York. It was a late debut—Jorn was 47 at the time—but it was preceded by a long and difficult initiation into art through a shifting dialogue with and rejection of the past. With Asger Jorn looming in the background, the path was a heavy one. "Letters to My Father" was the title he gave to his first exhibition. Now it has become "The Other Side of Hyperbole," that is, an attempt to go beyond exaggerations.

In a way, the title is very precise. Klaus Jorn's drawings on paper (primarily with colored chalk) are subdued and cautious in their expression. There are no grand gestures, no postulates. Instead, there is a tentative exploration of the great and heavy legacy, the beginning of a process in which an independent expression is distilled from what has been inherited and brought along.

Klaus Jorn constructs his images from awkward, primitive figures, almost pictograms and symbols, which—just as the titles suggest—interact cautiously with each other. They stand with strong outlines and simple colors. They are arranged hesitantly on the picture surface, which they often leave unresolved apart from occasional colored spots. Poetic and deliberately naïve, Jorn tries to achieve an expression as unspoiled and direct as children's drawings, but he cannot escape the extensive baggage he carries: Miró, Asger Jorn, and Cobra—it’s all there, and it’s not easy to shake off. Somewhere in all this, one senses the personal story, but it remains too vague, a present overshadowed by the past.

Øystein Hjort

POLITIKEN, Tuesday, June 20, 1989

Out from the Shadow of the Father

Stalke presents the latest from Jorn's brush

Imagine having the surname Jorn… and being a painter! And even worse: imagine being the true son of Asger. According to any Freudian textbook: a burden without comparison. Despite this, Klaus Jorn, the son of the great one, has managed to break through as a legitimate and independent artist.

He made his debut late, at Alexander Wood Gallery in New York, and the trendy American guys were quick to announce the family connection. But since then, Klaus Jorn has largely succeeded in growing away and out from under his father’s shadow.

Especially over the past five years, he has worked diligently and with increasing confidence toward a personal form of expression. The form is simple, imaginative—akin to Japanese art forms and perhaps Klee. There is much music in Klaus Jorn’s paintings, but also a great deal of storming the heavens and celebration of love, mysticism, and ritual. Do not be deceived by the lightness of his images.

The precise Stalke Gallery in Vesterbro, Copenhagen, has long had an eye on the young Jorn—and now the gallery can present the latest from Jorn’s brush.

It all takes place at Vesterbrogade 15 in the courtyard.

By Ole Lindboe

STALKE GALLERI - ENGLERUPVEJ 62 - 4060 - KIRKE SAABY - DENMARK - PHONE: +45 2926 - 7433

CONTACT:  STALKE@STALKE.DK

OPEN BY APPOINTMENT