Poul Gernes

Target D, 1966-68

Poul Gernes’ early and radical withdrawal from the institutionalized art business meant that his work has only been rediscovered and addressed again in recent years. In 1961, Gernes, with the art historian Troels Andersen, had founded the ‘Experimental Art School’ in Copenhagen, whose students included Per Kirkeby. The school opposed the academic tenets of the day. The teaching worked with current trends – Minimal, Pop and Concept Art – and reached a wide public in Denmark through the school. It also promoted awareness of the artist’s role within social structures and processes. Poul Gernes’ interest in designing public squares and buildings led to his Targets series, a total of 40 works. The colours in the Targets were chosen randomly to the extent that Gernes went as far as dipping his brush into paint-pots behind him without looking at them, and using the colour he had ‘hit’ directly.