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Lot Essay
Photography and found images have always been an important aspect of Sigmar Polke's work. Beginning with the Rasterbilder of the mid-sixties in which he utilized a screen process to transfer photographic images onto canvas. Polke has continued to experiment with the photographic medium.
From 1971 to 1975, cities such as Paris, Sao Paulo and New York inspired Polke to produce bodies of work which recorded Polke's visions and experiences in a dreamy, filmnic manner. Using film negatives on photosensitized canvas, Polke manipulated the medium to achieve a wide range of effects. Like these well known works, Untitled, 1975, was conceived from a photograph transferred to photosensitized canvas. Using spray enamel on the negative, Polke was able to achieve a hallucinogenic effect. The photograph, made in 1972 in Willich, near Dusseldorf, where Polke lived in a comminity on a farm. The car belonged to Peter Presslauer who was called "the looser". It shows Polke (in the front seat of the car) with fellow artists Memphis Schulze and Achim Duchow who is holding the camera.
From 1971 to 1975, cities such as Paris, Sao Paulo and New York inspired Polke to produce bodies of work which recorded Polke's visions and experiences in a dreamy, filmnic manner. Using film negatives on photosensitized canvas, Polke manipulated the medium to achieve a wide range of effects. Like these well known works, Untitled, 1975, was conceived from a photograph transferred to photosensitized canvas. Using spray enamel on the negative, Polke was able to achieve a hallucinogenic effect. The photograph, made in 1972 in Willich, near Dusseldorf, where Polke lived in a comminity on a farm. The car belonged to Peter Presslauer who was called "the looser". It shows Polke (in the front seat of the car) with fellow artists Memphis Schulze and Achim Duchow who is holding the camera.