Untitled

Jörg Immendorff began studying under Joseph Beuys in 1964. His encounters with this legendary professor and artist remain a strong influence on his art to this day. The present works, painted while Immendorff was still a student at the Academy of Art in Dsseldorf, are characteristic of the period. More than any other Beuys student, Immendorff picked up on his professor's "expanded concept of art" and sought to integrate a sense of socio-political responsibility into his work - be it painting, sculpture, drawing or performance. "Bleibt nicht länger hier!" ("Don't stay here any longer!") comments on the xenophobia that was beginning to grow again in Germany after the years of prosperity brought about by the so-called "Wirtschaftswunder". Such political commentary in Immendorff's work was to reach its height in the acclaimed "Café Deutschland" series of the late 1970s and early 80s.

Like the painting "Hört auf zu malen" (Stop Painting, 1966), "Bleibt nicht länger hier!" can, on the other hand, be seen as an appeal to his fellow artists to think beyond aesthetics and become active beyond the borders of the academy and its purely artistic tradition. In fact, it was just after painting this series that Immendorff himself took a break from painting for several years in order to concentrate on his "LIDL" actions and performances, which sought to break open the boundaries of the academy to include socio-political and ecological activism into the "expanded concept of art".