Bjørn Okholm Skaarup Sculptures

Edition of 9 64 x 18 x 18 inches - overall dimensions The steel base is 22 inches tall. Bjorn Skaarup holds a MA in History and Art History from the University of Copenhagen, and a...

Edition 1/9. Depicts Aesop's classic fable of The Fox and the Stork (where the fox and stork trick each other by serving meals in vessels the other cannot use). Bjorn Skaarup is cele...

Edition of 9 Measurements in include black steel base. The Greek playwright (and so-called Father of Tragedy) Aeschylus was warned by the Oracle of Delphi that he would be struck d...

Edition 2/9. This work depicts a Penguin steering a ship's wheel. Bjorn Skaarup is celebrated for creating a contemporary bronze allegorical animal sculptures that blend classical ...

"Porky Drummer" is a whimsical bronze sculpture created by Bjørn Okholm Skaarup as part of his larger monumental installation, The Circus, which features an elaborate, neo-Baroque co...

Edition 2/9 White pedestal not included Artist Statement: Inspired by the 1840 “Broken Mast Monument” in Sag Harbor’s Oakland Cemetery – commemorating numerous ships that were crus...

Edition of 9 Bjorn Skaarup 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 U...

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...

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...

Edition of 9 Comes attached to a black steel base. Bjørn Okholm Skaarup was born in Rudkøbing, Denmark in 1973. From 1994 to 2004, 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, Cellini, and Giambologna, learning the vanishing art of large-scale bronze casting. He also wrote and illustrated books on history, archaeology, and anatomy. In 2012, Skaarup was commissioned by the Koldinghus Museum, Kolding, a former Danish royal residence, to create four large reliefs depicting scenes from the life of Christian IV of Denmark. Skaarup was given his first solo U.S. museum exhibition at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 2015. That same year, the Collectivité of St. Barth acquired a suite of ten animal sculptures for public display throughout the island. In 2017, Skaarup's 15 foot tall monumental sculpture, Hippo Ballerina, was installed in front of Lincoln Center at Dante Park in NYC, in partnership with NYC Parks Art in the Parks program. The artist's now beloved sculpture has been exhibited throughout NYC, next to the iconic Flatiron building, in front of Grand Central Terminal in Pershing Square, and most recently in Stamford, CT in front of the Ferguson Library. Inspired by Degas’ Little Dancer...

Edition of 9 Bjorn Skaarup (Danish, b. 1973) holds a MA in History and Art History from the University of Copenhagen, and a PHD in History from the European University Institute in ...

Edition 1/9 Bronze with fabric skirt Bjorn Skaarup, Danish, b. 1973 Bjorn Skaarup holds a MA in History and Art History from the University of Copenhagen, and a PHD in History from...

Bjorn Skaarup 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 Inst...

Edition of 9 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 Fl...

Edition of 4 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 F...

Edition of 9

Bjorn Skaarup 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 Inst...

Edition of 6 Bjorn Skaarup 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 Un...

Polar bear riding on a sled, dressed as Pierrot from Commedia dell'arte

Story from Aesop's Fables. Edition of 9

Story from Aesop's Fables Edition of 9

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...

Ed. 4/6. Bronze sculpture of a hippo by Bjorn Skaarup, inspired by Ingres's Grande Odalisque.

Bronze sculpture of an emperor penguin dressed in an emperor's military parade garb.

A giraffe on stilts.