Peter Callesen

Peter Callesen
Born	Copenhagen, Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Education	Goldsmiths College
Known for	Sculpture

Peter Callesen (born in Copenhagen^[1] in 1967) is a Danish artist and author. Callesen is renowned for his talent in combining the minimalism of a big crisp white sheet of paper with the complexity of meticulously cut and folded paper and uses the two to build out some aesthetically pleasing compositions. He is also widely known as a paper cut artist. Particularly noteworthy are his works where the remains of the cut and folded objects are literally shadows of the objects former self. He uses the positive and negative space to tell a sometimes-dark story about the past and future of his subject using only a white sheet of paper. Callesen also works with a variety of other media including installations, performances, and monoprints.^[2]

He creates intricate papercut artwork from A4 paper and in large-scale installations. Each work is created from one sheet of paper, be it three-dimensional flowers falling from a bouquet's negative, a hummingbird flying from the page, or a child-size castle crafted from a billboard-sized paper. He uses paper because he says it is "probably the most common and consumed media used for carrying information today," but we "rarely notice the actual materiality" of it.^[3] There is a tragic quality to most of his subjects, whether it's a flower dying, an angel locked in a birdcage, or even an apple reduced to its core. So the frail and delicate paper medium underlines that element of calamity.

He says: "The paper cut sculptures explore the probable and magical transformation of the flat sheet of paper into figures that expand into the space surrounding them. The negative and absent two-dimensional space left by the cut, points out the contrast to the three-dimensional reality it creates, even though the figures still stick to their origin without the possibility of escaping. In that sense there is also an aspect of something tragic in many of the cuts".^[4] He is currently represented by the Galería Valle Ortí in Spain.^[5]^[6]

Education

^[7]

1997–2000 Goldsmiths College, London
1994–1997 Det Jyske Kunstakademi, Århus
1993–1994 Århus Art School (Foundation Course)
1990–1993 Århus School of Architecture

Exhibitions

^[8]

Solo Exhibitions

2012- went to warrington

2011

House of Paper - Sørlandets Art Museum, Norway
Out of Nothing - Haugar Vestfold Art Museum, Tønsberg, Norway

2010

Out of Nothing - Mjelby Art Museum, Halmstad, Sweden
Skin of Paper - Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center

2009

Out of Nothing - Trapholt, Kolding, Denmark
Out of Nothing - The Museum of Religious Art, Lemvig, Denmark

2008

Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York
Paperman, Helene Nyborg Contemporary, Copenhagen

2007

Unfolding, Emily Tsingou Gallery, London
Himmelrum, Kunsthallen Nikolaj in Copenhagen
Himmelrum at Brandt’s in Odense, Denmark

2006

Castle Museum, Nottingham, England
ALIVE, BUT DEAD, Helene Nyborg Contemporary, Copenhagen

2005

do ART gallery, Seoul, Korea
Egg ballet, Odense Performance Festival
Concert for birds, performance on Christianshavns Volde in Copenhagen

2004

emilyTsingou gallery, London
Mirage, Galleri Koch und Kesslau, Berlin

2003

Snowdrifting, The Kiosk Project, London

2001

The Life of The Dying Swan, Gallery Tommy Lund, Copenhagen
White Shadows, installation & performance, Esbjerg Art Museum, Denmark

2000

Der Sterbende Schwan, Gallery KUNST auf KAMPNAGEL, Hamburg
Jukebox, performance at Gallery Muu, Helsinki
Hvorfor blir det nat mor, three days performance, Gallery Tommy Lund, Copenhagen

1999

The Dying Swan is back, performance at Goldsmiths College's exhibitionspace
Sailing, performance at Overgaden, Copenhagen
Happy Birthday, performance in Goldsmiths College's canteen, London
Castle, two weeks happening at Goldsmiths College, London

1998

The Dying swan, performance at Det Fynske Kunstakademis Udstillingssted, Odense
The Dying swan, performance at Goldsmiths College's exhibitionspace

1997

Peter R. Callesen præsenterer Peter R. Callesen, happening in rum 46, Århus
Little Peter Spiderman III, performance & installation in rum 46, Århus
Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe", happening & installation in rum 46, Århus

Group Exhibitions