BIOGRAPHY
Danish, b. 1973
Bjorn Skaarup holds a MA in History and Art History from the University of Copenhagen, and a PHD in History from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Skaarup has also furthered his education with post-doctoral studies at the Warburg Institute, London and Columbia University, New York
In addition to his career as a self-taught sculptor, Skaarup has written and illustrated numerous books on historical, archaeological, and anatomical subjects.
"My animal sculptures represent a number of characters that have been given man-made and cultural tools and attributes that underline their particular traits – the dignity and supremacy of the majestic lion, the chivalrous nature of the ermine, the speed of the cheetah, the height of the giraffe, and the heavenly aspirations of the ostrich... The sculptures are a celebration of life and nature and its many intriguing shapes and creatures, all placed in peculiar and surreal encounters between nature and culture. The result is a group of bronze sculptures that combines the gracious and exclusive with the communicative, distorted and humorous."
Okholm Skaarup has created a contemporary bestiary, or classical book of animals, in bronze. Each sculpture presents a whimsical story or allegory to decipher, with sources ranging from ancient fables and art history to music and modern animation. The Majestic Lion, traditional king of the animals, wears the crown and armor of a great monarch in the style of Medici court sculptor Giambologna, yet he sits astride a rocking horse, a reference to his fleeting and jovial power. Frogs reenact Homeric battles in the Batrachomyomachia and Micenaean Horse, while mice peer through spectacles and listen at telephones as The Five Senses. A cheetah rides a scooter to move faster, a giraffe stands on stilts to reach higher, and a kangaroo bounces on a pogo stick—a “kængurustylte” in Okholm Skaarup’s native Danish.
From 1994 to 2004, Okholm Skaarup was an artist at the Danish National Museum, Copenhagen, before moving to Florence and receiving a PhD from the European University Institute in 2009. While in Florence, he studied the work of Renaissance sculptors Donatello, Michelangelo, and Giambologna, learning the vanishing art of large-scale bronze casting.
“I am constantly trying to improve my skills in modeling, and see how far the medium can go,” Skaarup explains.
“How many fun details you can add, how many forms you can create—ideally large, heavy forms that rest on light foundations, so the work appears as vibrant as possible. With bronze, you can make the most dynamic shapes imaginable.”
In Okholm Skaarup’s intricately polychrome work, he explores the voluminous form of a tutu and leotard-clad hippo, which at once references Degas’s Little Dancer of Fourteen Years and Disney’s Fantasia. Another hippo, sprawled in the pose of Ingres’s Grande Odalisque, looks at the viewer over her shoulder with a flirtatious grin. And a dinosaur paleontologist is mystified to discover the Flintstones’ Flintmobile among the rubble.
Okholm Skaarup’s indoor and outdoor sculptures have been the subject of museum exhibitions throughout the world, with notable public exhibitions at the Koldinghus Museum, Kolding, Denmark; the Museo Cenacolo di Ognissanti and Four Seasons Hotel, Florence; Hotel Cipriani, Venice, the Collectivité of St. Barth, and The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut. The monumental Hippo Ballerina has been exhibited at Dante Park, opposite Lincoln Center, The Flatiron District, Girl Scouts of America’s New York Headquarters, Pershing Square in New York, and the Ferguson Library, in Stamford, CT.
Bjørn Okholm Skaarup lives and works in New York City.
Exhibition History:
Apr 4–May 25, 2024 A Mythical Menagerie, Cavalier Galleries New York, NY
Feb 15–20, 2024 The Palm Beach Show, Sculpture Garden with Cavalier Galleries
Jan 24–28, 2024 Art Palm Beach, FL with Cavalier Galleries
Dec 5–10, 2023 ART MIAMI, Miami, FL with Cavalier Galleries
Jun–Aug 2023 A Bestiary in Bronze, Accademia della Arte de Disegno, Florence, Italy
Jun–Jul 2023 True to Form: Works by 20th & 21st Century Sculptors, Cavalier Galleries New York, NY
Feb 16–21, 2023 The Palm Beach Show, Palm Beach, FL with Cavalier Galleries
Jan 26–29, 2023 Art Palm Beach, Palm Beach, FL with Cavalier Galleries
Jan–Feb 2023 24th Street: Inaugural Group Show, Cavalier Galleries, New York, NY
Nov 29–Dec 4, 2022 Art Miami, Miami, FL Presentation of “Circus” with Cavalier Galleries
May–Dec 2022 Hippo Ballerina & Friends: A Bronze Tale, Public Exhibition in Pershing Square and Gallery Exhibition at Cavalier Galleries, New York, NY
Nov–Jun 2020 Public Exhibition, Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, West Palm Beach, FL
Aug–Nov 2019 Hippo Ballerina, Public Exhibition, Flatiron District, New York, NY
May 2019 Art New York, New York, NY with Cavalier Galleries
Jul–Dec 2018 ZOODIAC, Public Exhibition, Four Seasons Hotel, Florence, Italy
Jun–Aug 2017 MIXED ground floor show, Cavalier Galleries New York, NY
May–Jun 2017 MIXED: Group Exhibition, Cavalier Galleries New York, NY
Feb–Sept 2017 Hippo Ballerina, Public Exhibition, Dante Park (64th & Broadway) New York, NY
Feb–Mar 2017 Bronze Creatures Great and Small, Cavalier Galleries, New York, NY
Feb–Mar 2017 Bjørn Skaarup: Works on Paper New York, NY
Nov–Dec 2016 Cavalier Galleries 30th Anniversary New York, NY
Feb 2016 Palm Beach Jewelry, Art & Antique Show Palm Beach, FL with Cavalier Galleries
Oct 2015–Jan 2016 Bjørn Skaarup: Carnival of the Animals, Cavalier Galleries, New York, NY
Oct 2015–Jan 2016 Carnival of the Animals, Bruce Museum. Greenwich, CT
Sept–Nov 2016 Public Exhibition, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.
2014–2015 New York Art, Antique and Jewelry Show, New York, NY with Cavalier Galleries
2014–2015 Palm Beach Jewelry, Art and Antique Show, Palm Beach, FL with Cavalier Galleries
2014 Public Exhibition, Hotel de la Collectivité, Le Toiny Hotel, Saint Barthélemy
2014 Public Exhibition, Belmond Hotel Cipriani, Venice, Italy
2014 Public Exhibition, Ognissanti Cloister, Ognissanti Church, Florence, Italy
2013–2014 Naples Art, Antique and Jewelry Show, Naples, FL with Cavalier Galleries
2013 Public Exhibition, Four Seasons Hotel, Florence, Italy
2011 Public Exhibition, Koldinghus Castle, Kolding, Denmark
2010 Utzon Centre, Skagen, Denmark
2010 Cenacolo di Ognissanti, Florence, Italy
2009 Utzon Centre, Skagen, Denmark
2003 National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark