| |
Jörg Immendorff, 13.7.1, 2003, watercolour, signiert, 21 x 29 cm | | |
Jörg Immendorff, born in 1945, the last year of World War II, in Northern Germany, is one of the most significant as well as controversal, contemporary German artists. Along with several other prizes, Immendorff got awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz, the most important medal a German government has to give away. He also received the ´Premio Marco` from the Museum of Modern Art in Monterrey (Mexico). Being invited to the ´documenta 5´ by Harald Szeemann, back in 1972, Immendorff is still celebrating proverbial triumphs: His work is currently shown in the exhibition ´The Triumph of Painting´ at the SAATCHI COLLECTION in London; the ´Neue Nationalgalerie´ in Berlin is preparing a solo exhibition with him.
China is an „old flame" of the artist, who enjoys an international reputation: Maoist as a young man and constantly influenced by the Beuys´esque idea of a ´direct democracy´, Immendorff travelled to China in the 1980´ies. The aim was to meet (back then young) artists at the ´Central Academy of Fine Arts´ and to support them. Since then, he and Fang Lijun, the most important figurative painter in China, have been friends.
In 1992, Immendorff was able to exhibit his work in China for the first time (with the kind support of Mr. Michael Kahn-Ackermann, founding director of the Goethe-Institut in Beijing). In Autumn 1997, the artist got appointed visiting professor of the ´Academy of Fine Arts´ in Tianjin while in 2001, he accompanied German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on the occasion of a state visit. Another exhibition took place in Tianjin, in 2002, as well as two major, retrospective-like shows, one at the ´Millineum Art Museum´, the other at the ´Shanghai Museum´.
In Shanghai, Alexander Ochs, active art dealer in Berlin and Bejing, showed graphic arts of Immendorff along with works by Fang Lijun. Now, Ochs is presenting Immendorff in his latest show ´Immendorff !!´which will be shown at his branch-gallery WHITE SPACE in Beijing. Despite his serious sickness, the artist will be travelling to China in order to be present during the opening.
In his works, the painter, sculptor, graphic designer and stage designer raises the question of the significance of an artwork in the modern age, investigates political and historical dimensions with their consequences for each individual as well as for society. And, he repeatedly explores in a self-reflecting way his own existence as an artist, in the context of the modern age.
Immendorff provokes a critical reflection of the beholder, polarizes, and triggers controversies; his work is evokes an either shocked or thrilled reaction. It was this very art of polarization that was mastered by Joseph Beuys – the teacher of Immendorff, at the ´Staatliche Kunstakademie zu Düsseldorf´, between 1964 and 1966.
Immendorff´s current works are distinguished by an abstract flatness and the expressive choice of colors; oil paintings as well as watercolors seem like paintings inside paintings. Several intertwined image areas make the artist´s work vibrate, and thus create strong reflexes on the side of the recipient.
In contrast to the West, where this fact is hardly given notice, the Chinese audience is well aware of Immendorff´s strong affection to the artistic tradition and iconography of China. In the past years, the artist has been introducing the ´ape´ and the ´coral´ as repetitive motives. Through the ´coral´ (the cnidarian), he cites the master nature portrayal, Albertus Seba (1665 – 1736); in the ape, Immendorff sees himself. In the Chinese horoscope, the sign of the ape stands for continuous turbulance and creativity, but also for the wisedom of the ape in Buddism. Moreover, it can be noticed that within the course of his illness, the artist renounces more and more from the European central perspective; in return, Immendorff´s picture composition pursues other hierarchies through perspectives which lie side by side. |
Send E-mail
