Norden 3 (The North 3)

A.R. Penck’s Norden 3 depicts one of his characteristic stick figures against a brown background, with the initials ‘G.B.’ – for Georg Baselitz – painted in large letters alongside of it. Ralf Winkler, better known by his pseudonym of Penck, was born in Dresden in 1939 and met Georg Baselitz in 1957, the same year the latter was kicked out of art school for ‘’sociopolitical immaturity.’’ Both Penck and Baselitz were part of a group of East-German artists who rejected Western abstraction, opting for a more figurative style. For Penck this led to the creation of a language of symbols which he applied to artworks throughout his career. From the 1970s onwards, Penck and Baselitz were frequently exhibited together under the label of neo-expressionism and were represented by the same gallerist, Michael Werner. Norden 3, with its direct reference to Baselitz, is a reflection of Penck’s close ties to the artist.