JÖRG IMMENDORFF
“Late Paintings”
January 22nd - March 13th 2010
“Late Paintings”
January 22nd - March 13th 2010
Cardi Black Box opens the season 2010 with a first-ever exhibition: the first solo show in Italy dedicated to Jörg Immendorff, renowned German artist who has marked the history of contemporary painting and, since the Seventies, has been a key figure of European art. Jörg Immendorff has contributed in a unique way to art history, entering in museum collections worldwde, in the books, in the collective visual imagery and, above all, in contemporary man’s consciousness. The works of Jörg Immendorff represent a unique contribution to art history; with their rich visual imagery and multifaceted symbolic universe, they have entered museum collections worldwide , books and, most importantly, the consciousness of contemporary man.
This first Italian exhibition represents a challenge: it doesn’t aim to present Immendorff’s oeuvre through his most celebrated works - the masterpieces of the Seventies and Eighties - but it chooses a specific observation point, presenting the latest works created before his death, until now rarely displayed. Between 2006 and 2007 – the year of his death – Immendorff has produced a series of masterpieces of great emotional power, conjugating expressionist language with a new formal construction of the image and formal research.
Throughout his artistic career, Immendorff has used painting as a tool to reflect upon the social and economic condition of post-war Germany. Militant with the extreme left, his approach was influenced by his mentor Joseph Beuys as well as by movements such as Expressionism, New Objectivity and Neo-Dada. All these inspirations resulted in a painted space deeply marked by contemporary history and its struggles. Until the Nineties Immendorff’s paintings continued to be inhabited by symbols recalling the last fifty years of Germany history (the wall, the swastika, the flag, etc.) metaphors of the social and political condition of the divided Germany. Since the end of the Nineties, Immendorff’s approach gradually changed towards a more controlled and rigorous figuration, different from the rebellious mark that had characterised his works until then. A fundamental reason of this change was the precarious health of the artist who, struck by a nervous disease, saw his physical abilities gradually deteriorating. In the last years, he worked mainly with the help of assistants who acted as mediators between his vision and the canvas’ surface, composing the images according to the precise instructions which he provided them. In these works produced in 2006 and 2007, Immendorff brought together images from art history, German Renaissance painting, Mannerism, photographs from media, from metaphorical figures, which were combined, intertwined and overlapped, also through the digital elaboration. To the physical limitation caused by his disease, the artist responded with a renewed self-awareness and exploration of the world.
Also in his late works remained evident his critique to the collectivity balanced by the individual’s desire for change but, contrary to his work of the past, the interpretation of reality became more fragmentary. The narrative structure made of independent figures disappeared from the canvas and was substituted by the combination of different and ambiguous elements containing existential questions and doubts. The autobiographic aspect remained fundamental but - if before his vision was influenced by his ideology and experience - in the last paintings it appeared as the consequence of a inner gaze, that of a man looking at life through his renewed consciousness.
This first Italian exhibition represents a challenge: it doesn’t aim to present Immendorff’s oeuvre through his most celebrated works - the masterpieces of the Seventies and Eighties - but it chooses a specific observation point, presenting the latest works created before his death, until now rarely displayed. Between 2006 and 2007 – the year of his death – Immendorff has produced a series of masterpieces of great emotional power, conjugating expressionist language with a new formal construction of the image and formal research.
Throughout his artistic career, Immendorff has used painting as a tool to reflect upon the social and economic condition of post-war Germany. Militant with the extreme left, his approach was influenced by his mentor Joseph Beuys as well as by movements such as Expressionism, New Objectivity and Neo-Dada. All these inspirations resulted in a painted space deeply marked by contemporary history and its struggles. Until the Nineties Immendorff’s paintings continued to be inhabited by symbols recalling the last fifty years of Germany history (the wall, the swastika, the flag, etc.) metaphors of the social and political condition of the divided Germany. Since the end of the Nineties, Immendorff’s approach gradually changed towards a more controlled and rigorous figuration, different from the rebellious mark that had characterised his works until then. A fundamental reason of this change was the precarious health of the artist who, struck by a nervous disease, saw his physical abilities gradually deteriorating. In the last years, he worked mainly with the help of assistants who acted as mediators between his vision and the canvas’ surface, composing the images according to the precise instructions which he provided them. In these works produced in 2006 and 2007, Immendorff brought together images from art history, German Renaissance painting, Mannerism, photographs from media, from metaphorical figures, which were combined, intertwined and overlapped, also through the digital elaboration. To the physical limitation caused by his disease, the artist responded with a renewed self-awareness and exploration of the world.
Also in his late works remained evident his critique to the collectivity balanced by the individual’s desire for change but, contrary to his work of the past, the interpretation of reality became more fragmentary. The narrative structure made of independent figures disappeared from the canvas and was substituted by the combination of different and ambiguous elements containing existential questions and doubts. The autobiographic aspect remained fundamental but - if before his vision was influenced by his ideology and experience - in the last paintings it appeared as the consequence of a inner gaze, that of a man looking at life through his renewed consciousness.
curated by Sarah Cosulich Canarutto
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