H A P P E N I N G: Could you tell us how Galleri Bo Bjerggaard came to be?
How would you describe Denmark as a place to exhibit contemporary art?
Tell us about your current collaboration with Jannis Kounellis
And you have a great show of new Baselitz works on now too.
Yes, new watercolors. It’s our fourth show with Baselitz. I met Georg for the first time when I was working at the Louisiana in 1993 when he had a beautiful show there. We contacted him when we founded the gallery in 1999. And since he’s a great friend of Per Kirkeby it was easier for him to make the decision to work with us. Everything is about trust and reliability and faith. We did our first show with him one year after we opened. This current exhibition is 25 new watercolors, on view in our secondary space. It’s fantastic work.
How have you gone about putting the gallery’s program together?
For us it’s always been about fitting the pieces together - they shouldn’t overlap. Some people think it’s interesting to have a gallery with a specific style or a niche. I don’t. Especially when you’re in Copenhagen, I think it’s much more interesting to have artists who discover their own territory with their own power. But in a certain way they have to add something to the activity we are doing as gallerists. Every single artist should add something specific. Even if we have many artists who paint, they are doing it in very different ways. It’s also important for us to show artists who aren't Danish. We want to expose Scandinavian audiences to artists they wouldn’t see otherwise. That’s the challenge of being in Copenhagen. If we don’t show it, people probably won’t see it. And that’s both an opportunity and a responsibility.
How is your presence at art fairs like the Armory Show important to the work you do in that context?
When you are situated in Copenhagen, you have to be present internationally if you want clients and artists to respect you. And that’s why we came from Madrid here to New York and will then go to Cologne, Stockholm, etc. We do about eight fairs per year. That’s necessary to be a player in an international market. But, of course, it’s easier if you have a strong program.
And how do your presentations vary from fair to fair? What’s your strategy going into each one?
We do each fair with a precise, chosen concept. So this year at Madrid, which was our first year there, we showed bigger works. We felt we had to make a statement. We have a lot of clients here in New York - this is our eighth year - and we know what they expect, but we always want to bring something they’re not expecting. And it’s the same philosophy at the gallery: You take something you know and are comfortable with, and then show new things to make a statement and shock the system a bit. To give people the opportunity to encounter new art and hope they’ll be touched by it.
Do you find that Danish collectors in particular travel to fairs around the world?
Yes, we see a lot of them. Danish collectors are small-scale collectors, not like the ones from New York, who are big-scale. Life in Scandinavia compared to life here is different; it’s all relative. But Danish collectors are some of the most active. We love to travel and so do they. So, if they’re invited someplace they will come!
What is H A P P E N I N G next?
We’re doing something we’re really looking forward to with our next project. We have at the gallery the estate of Poul Gernes, a Danish artist. We did a solo show of his work at the last Miami Basel fair. He died in 1996, and he would’ve been ninety years old this year. So for our next show we’ve invited artists who have had a relationship with him or his work to bring a piece of art in celebration of Gernes’ birthday. We’re taking works from his estate and hanging beside them new works by international artists. We don’t want to celebrate Gernes with the work of Danish artists; we’ll do it with artists from outside Denmark to give it a global context. I can’t give you specific names yet, but it’s a good group! The show will open in April of this year.
Jannis Kounellis - New Works is currently on view at the gallery in Copenhagen through April 11, and
Georg Baselitz - New Works through 18 April.