Rocket gallery presents Ib Geertsen

photo © Paul Tucker courtesy Rocket Gallery, London

Ib Geertsen's portrait © Paul Tucker courtesy Rocket Gallery, London

6 February - 28 March 2009

Jonathan Stephenson/Rocket presents the first ever solo exhibition in London of the iconic Danish artist Ib Geertsen. He has just celebrated his ninetieth birthday. Geertsen has been painting for over70 years. This exhibition celebrates his work of the last four decades when it expanded to include mobile sculptures, screenprints, furniture and public design projects. He has even designed the livery of a Copenhagen bus and created mural decorations on several new buildings. Throughout his artistic career, Geertsen has pursued his very personal vision of ‘Konkrete’ – or geometrical – abstraction with his own distinct exploration of shapes and colour combinations.

"Ib Geertsen is practically a father figure within Denmark’s artistic household. Generations of Danish artists have grown up with his colorful formalism in museums and public spaces, and now a younger audience has rediscovered Geertsen’s sensuous cool." Lars Bang Larsen, Artforum, May 2003

photo © Paul Tucker courtesy Rocket Gallery, London

photo © Paul Tucker courtesy Rocket Gallery, London

left: 1938, Carl Hansen & Son (Odense, Denmark), painted beech,detail, 74 x 56 x 50 cm
right:1938, Carl Hansen & Son (Odense, Denmark), painted beech, 73 x 64 x 64 cm

Ib Geertsen (b1919) lives and works in Copenhagen. He originally trained as a gardener and was selftaught as an artist. Since 1943 he has exhibited in every major museum in Denmark and in 2003 he had a retrospective at the Kunsthallen Nicolaj, which led to renewed critical attention. His works can be found in numerous museums including Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen; ARoS, Aarhus Kunstmuseum; and Trapholt Museum, Kolding. In 2008 his work was included in the group show ‘Danish Konkrete’ at Rocket.

installation photo © Paul Tucker courtesy Rocket Gallery, London

Rocket's 2009 exhibition has developed since their first visit to the artist in his Copenhagen studio two years ago. It is built around a group of paintings from the artist’s archive, dating from 1960 to 2000, alongside mobiles of different scales. Screenprints on paper and glass, chairs produced in collaboration with the designer Bernt, and a livre d’artiste, all provide a dialogue with the paintings and mobiles. We will also exhibit rare Geertsen catalogues and ephemera, including publications from the Danish artists’ cooperative ‘Linien II’; and copies of the acclaimed Danish furniture magazine, Mobilia, for which Geertsen acted as guest editor on various special issues.
Rocket gallery is open Tues to Fri 10-6 & Sat 12-6 – preview 6-8 on Thursday 5 February with the artist present