Matheis on Mathiesen

In 1990, I met the Danish artist Gert Mathiesen at the Schoolhouse Gallery and Studios in North Salem, New York, where he shared a studio with his artist wife Pam Smilow. It was easy to connect with him. We were both European immigrants, our names were virtually identical, our birthdays one day apart. We both loved Dylan and the blues. It was clear to see from the outset that he was one of the most consequential artists I have ever met. When I first encountered him at the Schoolhouse, the ceramics, mixed media painting and printmaking artist was actively focused on using linoleum, woodcuts, paint and monoprinting techniques.

Gert Mathiesen’s art kissed the sunshine. He could make colors sing, like Matisse. His love of music still radiates in his two dimensional picture planes and ceramic objects. Mathiesen’s prints are seemingly alive, teeming in dance and exuberance. He had Picasso’s playfulness and Paul Klee’s powerful manifestations of inner creative freedom. Like Matisse, he understood form and shape.

Gert Mathiesen was born in 1951 in Esbjerg, Denmark. He came to the United States in 1986, initially as a potter in Martha’s Vineyard. He attended the Kolding School of Arts and Crafts. He worked in France, Italy and Germany, worked with a variety of well-known ceramicists, including Bjorn Wiinblad and the German potter Meulindick. Upon his return to Denmark he worked with the manufacturer Royal Copenhagen. In 1986, he permanently relocated to New York. Mathiesen died tragically from an aneurysm in 2013 while visiting in his home country.

Mathiesen was an eccentric and captivating character who redefined the very meaning of the adjective ‘passionate.’ Congenial and joyous, he was in a perpetual state of fascination with something, whatever he was into at the moment. Fervent and even recalcitrant in whatever he believed or felt, whatever he worked on or espoused, he ventured all the way in with total abandon. He had unbridled enthusiasm bordering on obdurate obsession. He chain smoked and could fit in more f-words in a single sentence than any human being on the planet. Socially, he was totally unfiltered. He spoke out whatever opinion was on his mind at any particular moment. It almost seemed as if he wanted to shock, but he had no such preconceived ideas. Mathiesen just gushed out whatever he was thinking, oblivious to how his pontifications would ring to the recipients.

It did. His importance is increasingly recognized. He had already attained success and exhibited worldwide during his lifetime. After his premature death, Mathiesen’s art was shown at the Consulate General of Denmark in New York City, from 2014 to 2018. His biggest posthumous exhibit was in Denmark. Pam Smilow recalled, “In conjunction with Annette Liisberg, owner of the Galleri Liisberg in Hundested, Denmark, we approached the Heerup Museum in Rødovre, Denmark, in hopes of interesting them in an exhibition of Gert’s work. Henry Heerup was a beloved and very well-known artist in Denmark, and Gert’s work had an affinity to his—they shared a similar “esprit” and unpretentious approach to life and art. Together with Annette and the curator of the Heerup Museum, Anni Nielsen, we put together a wonderful exhibition of Gert’s work that covered art from his entire life, starting with early ceramics to some of the last pieces he painted before he died. The exhibition was up for six months.” A traveling exhibition of Mathiesen’s work was also shown at the Museum of Danish American Culture, in Elk Horn, Iowa. In 2017, it was exhibited at the Scandinavian Heritage Foundation, Nordia House Cultural Center, in Portland, Oregon; and at the Schoolhouse Gallery, in North Salem, New York.