Per Kirkeby & Fredrik Værslev

This catalog is published on the occasion of the exhibition
Two Danish Painters at Grafikk Oslo, a gallery dedicated to
the presentation of graphic arts.

Danish Conditions

The “Dane”

First of all, what’s going on with this exhibition title? Two Danish Painters? For much of his life Fredrik Værslev has lived under the impression that he was 1/4th Danish. This would not have been a particularly rare statistic. Norway, after all, was under Danish rule for ages, part of a union with Denmark, from 1380 until 1814, a period of 434 years. During this time much of the country’s public administration was carried out by civil servants who came from Denmark, and of whom many settled down here. Written Norwegian is virtually Danish etc. etc. So, the significance Værslev has placed upon his Danish heritage can easily be characterized as a bit outsized given the fact that it’s something shared by a great number of people. And finally; in preparation for this exhibition, Værslev had a conversation with his aunt which led to the shocking discovery that the artist is in fact, only 1/16th part Danish. He did not have a Danish grandparent, but a great-great grandparent, and was simply extremely bad at math. Throughout the period of preparing for this exhibition, Værslev had spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out precisely how Danish he was, and: whether a family story that the entire Værslev clan had once visited their ancestral home together was actually true.

No matter how Danish the artist Fredrik Værslev really is, Værslev is still actually a village in Denmark, so that at least carries some sort of added meaning. The township is in the Western region of Zealand, with a population of 4400 and such little detail is given even by the local tourist board that there seems to be nothing more to say about it. Rumor in the family was that on a collective outing to the village they had all been photographed together in front of the town sign, and not least that whilst this was taking places their cars were robbed, presumably by locals unimpressed by the fact that this group of mountain monkeys (as the head coach of the Danish national football team once famously called Norwegians) were actually Værslev diaspora.

(introduction written by Erlend Hammer)

Editors: Erlend Hammer & Fredrik Værslev
Text: Erlend Hammer
Publisher: Grafikk Oslo

Photography: Magnus Gulliksen

Design/repro/cover photo: Halvor Bodin

Grafikk Oslo

2025
200 x 270 mm
32 pages
ISBN 978-82-694442-0-9
TS Trykk, Oslo
Typography: Adobe Graamond Pro
Language: Danish/English

This catalogue is a conseptually and visually a replica of the Per Kirkeby catalogue Baksteenskulptur / Backstein-Skulptur, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1987. ISBN 90 6918 017 0. The text and the photos are of course new, but the format, the grid, colours and typography the same.

In the years 1985–1993 famous Dutch graphic designer Wim Crouwel was in fact the director of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Accurate information on Wim Crouwel at Neugraphic.com.

Wim Crouwel did not design the Kirkeby catalog from 1987, but he for sure had his eyes/mind on it since he wrote the foreword as the museum director. The design was done by Mart Warmerdam and Reynoud Homan.

Personally I had the pleasure of attending a lecture with Wim Crouwel in Oslo (Norsk Form). I have to find out which year it was, around 1997 I think.