Galerie Max Hetzler is pleased to present new paintings and works on paper by German artist Günther Förg at the Holzmarktstrasse gallery.
The artist created a series of eight large-scale canvases as well as eight works on paper. The arrangement of the large acrylic paintings is very particular: two of the canvases are adjusted on the wall in the middle of the room. They are flanked by three paintings on each side, which are tied to the gallery's brick arch and therefore hang loose. The works on paper are situated on the opposite side and behind the main wall.
Color areas interleave softly and constitute the background for the framework of grids of one or more colors. The lines, which apparently are applied slightly, cross and overlap each other but do, however, allow certain spaces and offer a perspective or a passage into the background area. The emerging lightness and airiness is furthermore underlined by the unique hanging.
Since about 1992, paintings and works on paper known and documented in literature as "Gitterbilder" (grid paintings) appear in Günther Förg's work. The roots are to be found in an earlier series, the so-called "Fenster-Aquarelle" (window watercolors): the crossbar forms a grid for the space in the image, which provides the frame for a whole flow of paintings without limiting their free display and development. The "grid paintings" consolidate the essential components of painting in the most concentrated way: The drawing, the composition, the color and eventually the gesture or handwriting of the painterly execution, and last but not least the motive as artifact and the motive as the original motivation for painting.
The fast moving paintings by Günther Förg are manifestations of a pure practice, which use special strategies. It is neither about following a method nor about an engaging support of a personal style. This attitude provides the paintings with a wonderful easiness. Traditionally we tend to see abstract art as methodically planned, since it seems to be the general characteristics. But in Günther Förg's case, however, his work appears to be made instinctively.
Günther Förg was born in Füssen in 1952. He is closely related to the gallery, where he presented his works regularly since 1983 in Cologne and Berlin in solo and group shows. Since the mid-80's Günther Förg's work appears internationally in art institutions and museums. Günther Förg holds a professorship for painting at the Art Academy in Munich.
For further information please contact the gallery at +49 30 229 24 37
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