Asger Jorn – a Reckless Rebel

Jorn was forever pushing boundaries when it came to art, life and the world. His vision was broad, and throughout his life he conversed with artists, poets and political freethinkers across national borders. This adventure began in 1937 when he as a 23-year-old artist drove a motorcycle down through Europe, before he ended up in Paris as a student of one of Modernism’s great painters: Ferdinand Léger.

Jorn’s artwork is always intense, energetic and passionate. He often deals with themes that touch upon universal themes such as life, death, love and happiness. Like many of the post-war artists, he worked with the idea of community as well. He was critical of an elevated view of art and deliberately challenged high culture with his use of banality, irony, and anti-aesthetics. Jorn was preoccupied with myths and fairytales. To him, gods, monsters, and fabulous creatures stood as symbols for us humans, and Jorn’s works are often populated by fanciful and mysterious creatures – always inscribed on the canvas in a spontaneous, experimental and free idiom.

With his revolutionary thoughts, his work was centered around a commitment to improving society. He saw art as an important part of the struggle against the delusions of capitalism – a means to an end: a better world. As an artist, he was extremely productive – he painted over 2,000 works and continuously explored other forms of expressions as well such as prints, ceramics and image weaving. In addition, he was the author of 23 theoretical books on art, a sea of socially critical articles and published various art journals. For Jorn, everything went fast, and he kept going at this pace throughout his whole life carried by his enormous restlessness as a human being.