b. 1940, Copenhagen
Sylvester is a multi-disciplinary artist, actor and musician. His works include sculpture, painting and installations, often pushing the boundaries of these forms. He originally trained as a carpenter, and it was during this time that he first began to experiment with painting.
Sylvester made his debut at the Artists’ Autumn Exhibition in 1969. Urged on by frustrations with the traditional art establishment, Sylvester began to exhibit his work outside these spaces, on the street alongside fellow artist Erik Clausen (1942–2024). The two eventually branched out into performance art, happenings and experimental activist street theatre. This led a varied career in music, theatre and film. Sylvester’s visual art practice endured alongside this, and he returned focusing full time on painting and visual art in the late 1980s.
While his works span many mediums and decades, there is a consistent use of a bright colour palette and playful and naive forms. Beyond these similar formal qualities, as the art historian Iben From points out, the figures in his paintings and reliefs often seem to push outwards towards the viewer, teetering at the very edge of the artwork. It is as if his works had been staged for the theatre. In this and in the humour of his work, his practice is consciously addressed to us as viewers, as an audience.
Sylvester has been included in group exhibitions and solo exhibitions throughout his career, including recent major solo exhibitions at Sophienholm art centre in 2020, and at The Worker’s Museum in Copenhagen in the summer of 2026.