Fragmented – Mads Kjær Krabat

Mads Kjær Krabat (b. 1988) is an artist, veteran and a voice for reconciliation. His art stems from a life shaped by war, trauma and the struggle to find a way forward. As a young soldier (combat engineer), he was deployed to the Helmand province in Afghanistan in 2009, where a mine explosion changed his life forever. The experiences from the front line followed him home in the form of PTSD, abuse and a fight for survival, but later became the basis for a personal transformation that is today expressed in motivational lectures and charity projects. His artistic journey began in 2018 at the Veteranhjemmet Midtjylland in Brabrand, where art came to play a crucial role in his rehabilitation.

 

Mads works with expressive and figurative compositions on canvas and paper, where body, mind and personal memories are conveyed through wild brushstrokes and an intuitive, unplanned approach – the magic arises in the spontaneous. He incorporates his body, tattoos and identity markers into the works as a starting point for stories about bodily experiences and society's restrictions. With a broad color palette, he creates abstract self-portraits and interior motifs that revolve around the contrast between the raw and the vulnerable and invite the viewer to reflect. As a former soldier, Mads bears witness to experiences that have left deep traces. In his works, he transforms these memories and fragments into images that contain both pain and hope.

 

With the title 'Fragmented', Mads presents his fourth solo exhibition. He has previously exhibited at Galleri Parnasse, Streetart Festival in Aarhus, Who's Art Now and Illums Bolighus in Copenhagen, and has collaborated closely with the artists Hans Krull and Jon Gislason. He has painted portraits of, among others, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Troels Lund Poulsen, Olav De Linde, His Royal Majesty and the Foreign Legion. In addition, his artistic work has often involved charitable causes, where through his art he has created donations to veterans' homes, Knæk Cancer and the Church's Korshær.

 

The exhibition could be experienced from Saturday, October 11, to Sunday, November 23, 2025.