John Kørner: Altid Mange Problemer

The exhibition Altid Mange Problemer offers an unprecedented opportunity to experience Kørner’s greatest works, alongside new paintings and site-specific installations. The 1000 square metre retrospective, which specifically focuses on societal issues, is curated by Marie Nipper, and can be seen at Kunsthal Charlottenborg throughout the summer.

Arguably one of Denmark’s most significant contemporary artists, John Kørner creates powerful artworks that reflect current political and social questions. Especially the notion of the ‘problem’ has been a recurring theme throughout a large part of his career, figuring either as a painted motive or as a physical object.

Marking the year that John Kørner turns 50, Kunsthal Charlottenborg presents the largest exhibition of his works to date. With a special focus on the social issues that Kørner has addressed over the years, the more than 1000m2 large retrospective exhibition looks at Kørner’s major contribution to the renewal of contemporary painting. The exhibition likewise pays attention to his unique ability to express himself beyond the confines of the canvas, through spatial installations and his approach to art as something that can express beauty as well as social engagement.

For the exhibition Altid Mange Problemer Kørner will make a new series of paintings as well as several site-specific and immersive installations, in which both the abstract space and the recognisable motif of the everyday meet. There is a persistent sense of the uncanny in Kørner’s portrayals of the problems, emotions, moods and dreams of modern life.

In addition to new site-specific installations the exhibition will, for the first time, gather several of Kørner’s most notable series of paintings, such as ‘Kvinder til salg’, ‘War Problems’ and ‘Outdoor Struggling’. Thus, the exhibition at Kunsthal Charlottenborg offers an unprecedented opportunity to experience the artist’s mayor work gathered in one place. The exhibition has been initiated by curator and mag. art, Marie Nipper, previously chief-curator at ARos Aarhus Art Museum and senior curator at Tate Liverpool, UK.

John Kørner (b. 1967) has exhibited at numerous museums and art institutions and carried out several permanent commissions, including the mural Afghanistan at the Frederik VIII’s Palace at Amalienborg. In 2000, just two years after graduating from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, he was awarded the prestigious international Carnegie Art Award. In 2012 he received the Danish honorary medal ‘Eckersberg Medaillen’, and the same year he was given the art critic’s award for the exhibition ‘Kvinder til salg’ at Arbejdermusset. Kørner’s work is held in the collections of several national museums, among others: KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, HEART Herning Art Museum and The National Museum of Art in Copenhagen.

The exhibition is supported by:

Augustinus Fonden, Konsul Georg Jorck og Hustru Emma Jorck’s Fond, 15. Juni Fonden, Beckett-Fonden, Oticon Fonden, Statens Kunstfond, Det Obelske Familiefond, Knud Højgaards Fond and Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond.