Interview | Niels Borch Jensen | fineartmultiple

Niels Borch Jensen – A Life In Print

-by Duncan Ballantine-Way

Niels thank you so much for squeezing us in just before the opening of your latest Tal R exhibition. Since opening your printshop in 1979 you have worked with many of the world’s greatest artists such as Martin Kippenberger, Tacita Dean, Damien Hirst, and Georg Baselitz. Your roster reads like a Who’s Who of the contemporary art world—each artist is entranced by your ability to capture the essential character of their work into your print projects. You are undisputedly one of the world’s masterprinters and we at FAM are delighted to call you a partner!

Could you begin by telling us a little about how you started off?

I was interested in art as a young kid and around seventeen I had an art teacher who got me interested in printing in particular. Earlier than that, my favorite art books would all be Goya’s etchings and the prints appealed to me for a long time. But then, when I got into the printmaking thing I just really got obsessed with it. I actually had a press in my bedroom.

Was the art world very different when you first started out?

I remember one night in particular when I was talking with Damien Hirst, he had done a print with me and we were discussing it. This was in Pfaeff’s in Köln, which in the 1990s it was a very hip place during the art fair. I was trying to discuss with Damien Hirst while Hubert Kiecol was always falling off the bench—Gilbert or George, one of them was trying to kiss my ear, it was just a different scene at the time and everything was done by these kinds of meetings and talks.

Read the full interview on fineartmultiple’s website.