Born 1978 in Hobro, Denmark. Lives in Copenhagen, DK.
Many contemporary artists are preoccupied with narration, but Torben Ribe is more interested in the purely visual, formal and conceptual aspects of art. Taking popular culture and historic iconography as his starting point, he processes a profuse material, moving freely between different styles and genres. Ribe is primarily a painter, but he also produces sculptures, videos, photos and installations, and has examined painting as an object like any other object in the world with physical properties such as surface, colour and materiality. Under the title of Dummy, for instance, he presented a series of painted objects in the form of books, where each “book” also had a unique identity. Ribe consistently explores visual strategies and meanings, as exemplified in the work featured in this exhibition, The Graphic Journal (Part I – Episode III). This work, consisting of 18 parts, explores painting as graphic design, through various visual references, from early computer games and balloon animals, to Bauhaus aesthetics and Francis Bacon, in a presentation overloaded with visuality, significance and humour.
Education
2000–2006 The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, DK
Selected bibliography
Torben Zenth: ”Reconsidering Everything (Again) – Torben Ribe”, New Danish Art, Copenhagen, 2008
Synne Rifbjerg: ”De unge (latter)milde”, Weekendavisen, Nr 26-27, June, 2008
Matthias Hvass Borello: ”Underbevidsthedens sejr”, kunsten.nu, 9.7.2008
Peter Michael Hornung: ”Alt der glimter, er ikke guld”, Politiken, 23.6.2007
Marie Kirkegaard: ”Pimp My Horizon – Torben Ribe”, New Danish Art, Copenhagen, 2007
www.torbenribe.dk