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Lot Essay
'Painting, far from being a redundant practice in the era of mechanical, electronic and digital communication, is shown by Polke to be a resourceful medium, equipped to investigate the complexities of contemporary experience' (S. Rainbird, 'Seams and Appearances: Learning to Paint with Sigmar Polke,' Sigmar Polke: Join the Dots, exh. Cat., Tate Gallery Liverpool, 1995, p. 9)
Wellknown for his critically acclaimed examinations of mass-media and popular culture, Polke was fascinated by the continuing power of images in an age when the proliferation of media outlets, both personal and professional, had made them increasingly ubiquitousness. Building on the tongue-in-cheek humour of his Capitalist Realist paintings from the 1960s, Polke embarked on an increasingly complex journey in which he attempted to find new meaning in the medium by bringing about unexpected interventions on the painted surface. In Untitled, this commanding painting combines the rigid formality of the hexagonal honeycomb motif with a looseness of brushstrokes that criss-cross the picture plane. Like his Lapis Lazuli paintings from the same year (a series in which Polke executed extravagant gestural brushstrokes in the sanctified pigment normally reserved for the precision of Renaissance frescos) the surprising combination of strict geometry and abstraction encourages a re-assessment of the established rules of artistic comprehension. With his characteristic dexterity of mind and hand Polke has extracted new meaning through this layering and juxtapositioning. In doing so he proves that far from being a redundant practice in this era of instant electronic communication, painting remains a resourceful medium that continues to be a relevant form of communication in today's fast-paced and instantaneous society.
Wellknown for his critically acclaimed examinations of mass-media and popular culture, Polke was fascinated by the continuing power of images in an age when the proliferation of media outlets, both personal and professional, had made them increasingly ubiquitousness. Building on the tongue-in-cheek humour of his Capitalist Realist paintings from the 1960s, Polke embarked on an increasingly complex journey in which he attempted to find new meaning in the medium by bringing about unexpected interventions on the painted surface. In Untitled, this commanding painting combines the rigid formality of the hexagonal honeycomb motif with a looseness of brushstrokes that criss-cross the picture plane. Like his Lapis Lazuli paintings from the same year (a series in which Polke executed extravagant gestural brushstrokes in the sanctified pigment normally reserved for the precision of Renaissance frescos) the surprising combination of strict geometry and abstraction encourages a re-assessment of the established rules of artistic comprehension. With his characteristic dexterity of mind and hand Polke has extracted new meaning through this layering and juxtapositioning. In doing so he proves that far from being a redundant practice in this era of instant electronic communication, painting remains a resourceful medium that continues to be a relevant form of communication in today's fast-paced and instantaneous society.