Ib Geertsen   Danish | 1919-2010

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Ib Geertsen was born in 1919 and painted for over 70 years until his death in 2009. In the last four decades of his life his work expanded to include mobile sculptures, screenprints, furniture and public design projects. Throughout his career, Geertsen pursued his very personal vision of ‘Konkrete’ – or geometrical – abstraction with his own distinct exploration of shapes and colour combinations.

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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

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Geertsen lived and worked in Copenhagen. He originally trained as a gardener and was self-taught as an artist. Between 1943 and his death he exhibited in every major museum in Denmark and in 2003 he had a retrospective at the Kunsthallen Nicolaj, Copenhagen which led to renewed critical attention. His work can be found in numerous permanent collections including Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen; ARoS, Aarhus Kunstmuseum; and Trapholt Museum, Kolding.

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In 2008 Geertsen’s work was included in the group show Danish Konkrete at Rocket. His first solo show in London – at the age of 90 – was at Rocket in February 2009, for which a catalogue was published. His death in June 2009 was marked by an obituary by Bruce Peter in The Guardian.