“All language and ideas from before led to that, and all paintings and ideas that came out afterward, you could see where they have roots in that single painting”. Armitage takes us through his formative encounters with art, such as the Pietà by Titan, which for Armitage, was a bottleneck painting of western art history.
The most important encounter with art was seeing Francisco Goya’s black paintings, as Armitage explains, “It totally blew my mind. I don’t think I have quite come to terms with that experience yet.”
Armitage also talks about the power of caricature, the significance of paint and the painted mark, and how distortion can be used to give something importance or less importance. With numerous solo exhibitions at esteemed galleries and museums around the world, Michael Armitage has in a short time established himself as one of the most prominent and highly acclaimed voices of his generation.
Michael Armitage (b. 1984) is a Kenyan-born artist living and working in Nairobi and London. Armitage received his BA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art, London in (2007), and has a Postgraduate Diploma from the Royal Academy Schools, London (2010). Solo exhibitions include among others the 58th Venice Biennale (2019), Whitechapel Gallery, London (2020), Royal Academy, London (2021), Haus der Kunst, Munich (2020), and Ny Carlsberg Glyptoteket (2021).
Michael Armitage was interviewed by Kasper Bech Dyg in connection to the exhibition ‘Account of an Illiterate Man’, at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptoteket, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Camera: Jakob Solbakken
Produced and edited by: Kasper Bech Dyg
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2021
Supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Fond
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