It is with great pleasure that Galleri Bo Bjerggaard presents the exhibition Et år / A Year with photographs by the Danish artist Erik Steffensen. This is Steffensen’s sixth solo exhibition at Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, and it is being presented in the gallery’s east-facing exhibition space. Erik Steffensen works with photography in a painterly fashion, and in his new exhibition A Year, he shows how colour photographs, in their pigmented quality, may be viewed like impressionistic snapshots. Steffensen takes particular inspiration from the Golden Age artist Johan Thomas Lundbye, born 200 years ago, Lundbye worked with a similar lightness in his landscape paintings, even before the birth of photography. In his drawings, Lundbye was kaleidoscopic in his choice of motif: plants, animals, caves and gnomes were all equal elements in his art. He recorded his impressions in his diary Et Aar af mit Liv (‘A Year In My Life’). It is evident from the pictorial journey of A Year that Erik Steffensen is familiar with both art history, method and the beauty of nature. Steffensen’s motifs are taken from journeys, without being travel photographs, and home in Denmark, without being private pictures. There are motifs from as far away as Patagonia, Japan and the Himalayas, and from as near at hand as the artist’s studio in the former Værløse air force base and his home in southern Stevns. A Year thus consists of a series of images, each of which has its own weight and raw aesthetic message. Erik Steffensen was born in Valby in 1961, and graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, in 1992, where he was also appointed professor from 1998-2007. He lives and works in Vemmetofte, Værløse and Læsø. Steffensen is among others represented in the following collections: Arken – Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj (DK), ARoS, Aarhus (DK), Chase Manhattan, New York (US), Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur (CH), Heart – Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning (DK), Kristinehamns Konstmuseum, Kristinehamn (SE), Louisiana – Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk (DK), the National Gallery, Copenhagen (DK). For the exhibition, a catalogue is being published with a text by Museum Curator Naja Rasmussen. Det er med stor fornøjelse, at Galleri Bo Bjerggaard præsenterer udstillingen Et år / A Year med fotografier af den danske kunstner Erik Steffensen. Dette er Steffensens sjette soloudstilling i Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, og den vises i galleriets østvendte lokaler. Erik Steffensen arbejder malerisk med fotografiet, og med sin nye udstilling Et år viser han hvordan farvefotografiet i sin pigmenterede kvalitet kan står som impressionistiske øjebliksbilleder. I særdeleshed inspireret af Johan Thomas Lundbye, der blev født for 200 år siden, og som i guldalderen arbejdede med en tilsvarende lethed i landskabsmaleriet. Det var før fotografiets fødsel. Som tegner var Lundbyes værk kalejdoskopisk i sit emnevalg: planter, dyr, huler og nisser var ligeværdige elementer i hans kunst. Han skrev sine indtryk i dagbogen Et Aar af mit Liv. At Erik Steffensen er bekendt med både kunsthistorien, metoden og naturens skønhed bliver tydeligt i den billedvandring udstillingen Et år består af. Motiverne er optaget på rejser uden at være rejsefotografier, og hjemme i Danmark uden at være privatoptagelser. Der er motiver fra så fjerne egne som Patagonien, Japan, Himalaya og så nære som hans atelier på den nedlagte Flyvestation Værløse og fra hjemmet på det sydlige Stevns. Således udgør Et år en række billeder, der alle har egen fylde og rå æstetiske budskab. Steffensen er født i Valby i 1961 og er uddannet ved Det Kongelige Kunstakademi København i 1992. Han har været professor ved Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi fra 1998 – 2007. Han bor og arbejder i Vemmetofte, Værløse og Læsø. Erik Steffensen er blandet andet repræsenteret i følgende samlinger: Arken – Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj (DK), ARoS, Aarhus (DK), Chase Manhattan, New York (US), Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur (CH), Heart – Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning (DK), Kristinehamns Konstmuseum, Kristinehamn (SE), Louisiana – Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk (DK), National Gallery, Copenhagen (DK). Til udstillingen udgives et katalog med tekst af museumsinspektør Naja Rasmussen.