Mie Olise Kjærgaard: Off the Deep End

Mie Olise Kjærgaard paints women in motion – sailing, skating, riding horses, building, and making music, often carrying children as they go. They move with purpose, energy, and joy. In her work, Kjærgaard explores what happens when women act on their own terms and step beyond expectation. Her figures are active and powerful –  taking risks, having fun, and asserting their freedom. Her vigorous, expressive style underscores the strength and independence of the women she depicts. These are not narratives of perfection, but of persistence, invention, and the courage to act.

In her recent work, Kjærgaard extends this world into an underwater realm that defies gravity. Here, women swim through deep waters alongside fish and hammerhead sharks, in a space governed by its own laws. Freed from the rules of land, their bodies shift and transform on their own terms. This sense of liberation also pervades Kjærgaard’s interior spaces, where women float and fly through rooms that once confined them to stillness. Across these environments, her work asks a compelling question: what happens when we dare to surrender to play, risk falling, or defy gravity altogether – and what rises to the surface as a result?

Mie Olise Kjærgaard (b. 1974) holds an MFA from Central Saint Martins in London, as well as MA degrees in architecture from the Aarhus School of Architecture and the Bartlett School of Architecture. She has exhibited widely internationally, including institutions such as the Trapholt Museum of Art and Design in Denmark, Foundry Seoul in South Korea, Museo de Arte Acarigua in Venezuela, and The Journal Gallery in New York. Her work is held in major collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Pauline Karpidas collection, the New Carlsberg Foundation, and the Saatchi Collection in London.

For inquiries of Kjærgaard's works, please contact: 
Marjatta Latvanen, Sales Director
marjatta@galerieforsblom.com