Günther Förg
Brimming with both visual immediacy and painterly nuance Günther Förg’s handle on abstraction has reinvigorated formalist approaches to painting in an unmistakably contemporary environment. Building on an austere and subtly defined, grey ground, Förg has defiantly imposed feverish cross-hatchings of crimson red paint. In places the textures and colours appear to coalesce but in others they dissociate entirely resulting in a picture plane that refuses to sit still. Likewise, where alternations of light and dark suggest depth, the gestural brutality and rigid composition of red paint asserts flatness. This is a fearless painting. One that builds on the existing stylistic qualities of other great German painters yet affirms itself as utterly new. Within this work one can find the confrontational patterning of Georg Baselitz, the ethereal enigmaticness of Gerhard Richter, the historical irreverence of Albert Oehlen and the uncompromising chromatic proximities of Hans Hoffman, all battling for relevance in a work that evidently establishes its own.
Executed in acrylic on canvas, this commanding work by Günther Förg presents a dynamic tension between a subdued, grey ground and an aggressive overlay of crimson red cross-hatching, creating a picture plane that simultaneously asserts flatness and implies depth. The interplay of coalescing and dissociating textures generates a restless visual energy, as gestural brutality collides with rigid compositional structure. Rooted in the lineage of great German painters yet defiantly contemporary, the work synthesises influences from Baselitz to Richter while establishing an entirely singular painterly voice.
- Medium
- acrylic on canvas
- Spotted At
- Auction House · Phillips
🔨 Auction Lot
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
March 8, 2017
Start the Discussion
Request access to join the discussion