Music in cuts
Jørn Peter Lærkesen
03.02.-28.04.2024
With sheep shears and glossy paper, Jørn Peter Lærkesen has immortalised world-class classical concerts - from a race concert in a castle courtyard with the wind ensemble Rennquintett to pianist Kevin Kenner's performance of Chopin.
Lærkesen's journey into the art of cutting started in 1965, when he attended a Christmas exhibition in Christianshavn with his wife. In the dow of Broste Copenhagen sat a woman in a Polish national costume. She was cutting stunning, traditional papercuts from her home country using only a pair of sheep shears as a tool. In addition to her paper cuts, Lærkesen brought with him a deep fascination with the artist's tool - the sheep shears.
At home, Lærkesen had a pair of sheep scissors hanging around, and he immediately had to try his hand at the art of papercutting. Lærkesen has made a living as a teacher and has taught art in primary school and at the Danish Teachers' College. So he took his sheep scissors to the woodworking room and sharpened them to the best of his ability. It turned out to be an extremely flexible tool, which he subsequently used to make all his paper cuts.
One day, the Lærkesens' good friends, Meta and Vagn Holmboe, and Meta's niece, Marion Koepf, saw his many clips. At the time, Koepf was organising 6 annual concerts in the southwest German town of Böblingen. Here she was to organise a concert with Michala Petri and Vagn Holmboe. She asked Lærkesen if he could make a vignette for the concert. Perhaps he could even make vignettes for all the concerts she organised? And so began Lærkesen's musical journey into the art of cutting. Many vignettes were created during the years of the concert series, and they are all part of Koepf's collection. A selection of these can now be seen in the exhibition "Music in Cuts".
Lærkesen's clips are based on concerts and depict the character and unique atmosphere of musicians, composers and venues. In all of Lærkesen's clips, there is a striking similarity between the portrait and the musicians' distinctive character. He captures their physical features, musicality and personality. An ability that is particularly impressive when working with the silhouette in its purest form.
