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Lisbeth Bonde Art in Words
As an art critic (and cand. mag. [ÅM.A.]
and journalist), I am busy writing books and articles about modern
art. Moreover, I am constantly presenting lectures at institutions
of higher learning, on the channels of the electronic media and
at art unions. I have been working for many years as an art critic
and author while also working for more than ten years offering
instruction in visual art. In 2002, I published a book containing
interviews with twenty-three of Denmark’s most prominent
artists, entitled Kunstnere på tale [Speaking with
the Artists]. At the moment, I am busy writing two books about
Danish painters and I am also writing an ongoing series of articles
and interviews for periodical publications such as Weekendavisen,
Magasinet Kunst, Louisiana Magasin, the British magazine
Modern Painters and the Internet magazine kopenhagen.dk.
Selected articles
 The book entitled Atelier – kunstnerens værksted (Artists’ studio), which was published by the Danish publishing house Aschehoug in November 2003, contains photos and texts from some of the studios of som of the most interesting contemporary Danish artists.
 The
book entitled Kunstnere på tale (Speaking with the
Artists), which was put out by the Aschehoug publishing house
in 2002, contains interviews with some of the twentieth century’s
best Danish artists.
In my capacity as art critic and journalist, I
am presently writing monographs on the Danish painters Jens Birkemose
and Peter Martensen and I am finishing up work on a book about
Danish artists’ studios. I am constantly presenting lectures
on contemporary art, on the avant-garde and the neo-avant-garde,
on the new context art and on art of the twentieth century in
general. I have been writing about art since 1990 and in my role
as an art critic, I have been taking part in the most important
biennials abroad. I have also seen the most important exhibitions
here in Denmark. Accordingly, I keep myself informed and up to
date with respect to the cutting edge of contemporary art’s
newest experiments. Moreover, over the course of many years, I
have been offering instruction in visual art and I have managed
to impart material about the latest developments in art in a lively
and committed way, with the result that the interested layperson
could follow along.
The book ’Manual of Danish Contemporary Art’
By Lisbeth Bonde and Mette Sandbye
Manual of Danish Contemporary Art is the
first book to provide a comprehensive introduction to the last
fifteen years of art the domestic area. Rarely has the young art
scene been characterised by such diversity as now; experiments
run loose from traditional painting, across engaged social and
political concept art, to the recent net art. The young artists
work across media and are inspired by international currents.
The book is a practical primer within the wide and varied field
known as contemporary art. Each of the eleven chapters in the
book introduces a medium and pinpoints works by representative
artists. A large number of these are accessible at the country’s
museums; the book breaks open the door to this surprising world
of skewed, humorous and challenging manifestations.
The manual of Danish contemporary art is a real handbook –
ready for your bag when next you visit an art museum or gallery.
The press wrote:
“A much needed and highly competent survey and introduction
to young Danish contemporary art” – Astrid la Cour,
Berlingske Tidende
“Impressive manual of Danish contemporary art” –
Ole Nørlyng, Weekendavisen
“They combine enthusiasm with scholarship and succeed in
opening up to a wider audience the not easily accessible material,
Danish contemporary art.” – Tom Hermansen,
Jyllands-Posten
Facts about the book
1st edition
Paperback, 392 pages
ISBN: 8702044501
Copenhagen: Gyldendal 2006
Cover: Camilla Jørgensen
The book ’Peter Martensen Solo’
By Lisbeth Bonde
Peter Martensen Solo
is a survey of Peter Martensen’s work as a painter, graphic
designer, book illustrator and video artist. It has a foreword
by the historian of ideas, Carsten Thau, a large art interview
with Lisbeth Bonde, as well as an extensive account of Peter Martensen’s
oeuvre from the early 1980s till 2006, also written by Lisbeth
Bonde.
Peter Martensen (b. 1953) never just reiterates what he sees and
experiences, although he often uses tv-stills and photos as draft
models. Rather he makes his models anonymous and hence elevates
them to a mythological level.
By removing distinct features from these documentary models and
by laying his monochrome – often indigo blue – filter
across the motif, the painting becomes both a picture with which
we are readily familiar, as well as something quite different:
a painting, precisely, that seduces us with its ‘unhemlichkeit’,
as Germans would say, its uncanny strangeness. A picture is always
an abstraction, it is never reality, he seems to say. The painting
has made itself independent and from now on lives its own life.
In the viewer as well as in the general, cultural narrative.
Peter Martensen has a long series of solo and group exhibitions
behind him. At the moment, he has a retrospective exhibition at
Sophienholm (June 24 to September 3, 2006).
The press wrote:
“This is a case of a substantial volume mapping out Peter
Martensen’s work as a painter and a graphic designer, just
as Lisbeth Bonde to a lesser extent delves into Martensen’s
contributions within video, music and illustrations. A biography
and an analysis of his works containing a large interview with
the artist, an independent art historical analysis, as well as
the very important visual illustrations of his oeuvre.”
Ole Nørlyng, Weekendavisen
“Having followed Peter Martensen’s artistic development
over a number of years, Lisbeth Bonde in her book, ‘Solo’,
captures Martensen’s considerations and his work with a
real understanding of the artist’s mind. She explains that
the monochrome element makes the works stand out from reality
– to be seen. Both the exhibition as well as the finely
illustrated book underscore that figurative painting has not exhausted
its possibilities – and that Martensen, in quite his own
sensitive manner, succeeds in showing it.” (Four Stars),
Eva Pohl, Berlingske Tidende
“As Bonde writes, Martensen is more of an interpreter of
dreams than an empirical observer. The monochrome colour filter
that he lays across his motifs – be they historical scenes,
the portrait paintings, or the multiplied pictures with many,
cloned anonymous men wearing white shirts – serves to remove
them from reality and elevate them to another sphere beyond the
rational.” Camilla Jalving, Kristeligt Dagblad
“In the interview section, you meet the person Peter Martensen,
whereas Lisbeth Bonde in another section skilfully guides the
reader through important aspects of his work.” Trine Ross,
Politiken
Lisbeth Bonde
PETER MARTENSEN – SOLO
ISBN 87-21-02902-4
190 pages, illustrated, hardback
Cost: DKK 295
Contact Lisbeth Bonde by telephone: +45
3538 7634, by cell phone: +45 2966 0063 or e-mail: Lisbeth.Bonde@mail.tele.dk
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