Sigmar Polke The Three Lies of Painting Gallery (more images) In this year of the 10th documenta and the 47th Biennale, the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn is continuing its series of great monographic exhibitions of 20th century art with an exhibition dedicated to the work of Sigmar Polke. The show opens on 7 June 1997 and will run through 12 October 1997. This is the most comprehensive retrospective ever organized for the Cologne-based artist. While it focuses primarily on Polke's paintings, the museum has borrowed a representative selection of more than 220 works to present a first-ever overview of all phases of the artist's work from 1962 to the present. The general impression is rounded out with objects, installations and a large group of photographs; new, never yet exhibited works from 1996 and 1997 reinforce the retrospective character of the show. It is the aim of this exhibition to present a portrait of Sigmar Polke, to honor one of the leading German artists on the international art scene. In the course of the past 30 years he has managed both to build up an extraordinarily diverse oeuvre and to make clear his importance to the younger generation of artists. Sigmar Polke was born in 1941 in the Lower Silesian town of Oels. He emigrated to West Germany at the age of 12 and is today one of the most important players on the artistic scene. His work is characterized by inexhaustable resourcefulness, a complex awareness of art history and his own human and artistic skills, technical expertise and a love of experimentation. Polke very early addressed himself to the social realities, employing varyingly cryptic irony to make his points. Like only a few other artists of his generation, he has developed a seismographic feel for the changing pulse of public life since the 1960s and has incorporated his observations into his works. He has also created a completely independent language of images. Playfully combined with visual paradoxes and clichés, this imagery forms humorous commentaries and visual riddles which reveal the humanistic, culturally critical ethos integral to Sigmar Polke's work. Polke first came to public notice as a founding member of the school of Capitalist Realism. Like Pop Art, the movement concerned itself with the objects and events of daily life. At the same time, however, it sought to be perceived as an ironic take on Socialist Realism. Pictures such as Plastic Tubs (1964) and The Sausage Eater (1963) illustrate the school's difference to Pop Art, its humorous distance from and critical attitude towards the world of goods and services. Polke's early half-tone pictures (e.g. BZ at Midday (1965) or Women Friends (1965)) are usually based on trivial subjects culled from newspapers. They are characterized by the use of an original compositional technique which the artist still employs in countless variations. In works such as Carl Andre in Delft (1968) or, later, Protective Custody (1978) Polke uses a canvas made of furnishing fabric, thus elevating it to the status of a visual motif. He continues to employ this technique today with great versatility. The legends surrounding the image of the artist, the clichés in the perception of art, and the strategies and intentions of his fellow artists are among Polke's favorite themes. Since the 1980s Sigmar Polke has been increasingly interested in experimentation, working with untried pigments, minerals and chemicals. His pictures continue to develop in an only partially controlable process which may best be compared with natural evolutionary trends. An excellent example of such work is the mural featuring hygroscopic pigments which Polke painted for the German Pavilion at the 42nd Biennial Art Festival in Venice in 1986. Having thus shown that a picture need not be permanently fixed in a single form, Polke went on to develop picures on polyester fabric (e.g. Meteor (1989)) and finally the double perspective of the Laterna Magica (1988 - 1996). The free-standing transparencies are stretched in a kind of paravent to reveal the entire "fruited plain" of western culture, melding fairy tales, magic, history and the present. Since the 1980s the artist has also devoted increasing attention to sociopolitical subjects, including the threat of nuclear war, the relationship between East and West (Upswing in the East (1992)) and the persecution of ethnic minorities. Even his latest fabric pictures - his first to incorporate complete textiles (e.g. Mercedes (1994)) - reflect everyday social issues. These works, however, are always created within the framework of apparently random color experiments which are intended to free the canvas from its role as a fixed unit and to multiply the visual levels of the picture. From 1 November 1997 to 15 February 1998 a somewhat different version of the exhibition will be presented in cooperation with the Nationalgalerie Berlin at the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum fuer Gegenwart. It will be the first such exchange exhibition. The coice of these two prominent exhibition sites will create not only a cultural bridge between German's old and new capitals, but also a correspondence between the site and subject of the exhibition. An important consideration will be Polke's importance in post-war art and as an observant commentator on post-war history. A 370-page catalog accompanies the exhibition. It includes illustrations of all the works on display as well as articles by renowned authors. Visit the exhibition right now: The exhibition in one minute! RealVideo G2 Quicktime movie. Version 1: 15 fps (3.5 MB) 59 sec, no sound Version 2: 6 fps (1.3 MB) 59 sec, no sound More RealVideo and Quicktime movies at our Movie Page. Meine Sicht auf Polke Special Events with Artists, Collectors and Critics Every Tuesday, 7 p.m. (sorry, german only) The Catalogue email: Susanne Kleine, Project Manager

                       




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