‘Newman and Rothko attempted to rehabilitate in their works a unity and an order that for them had been lost … For me, abstract art today is what one sees and nothing more’ (G. Förg quoted in Günther Förg: Painting/Sculpture/Installation, exh. cat., Newport Beach 1989, p. 6).
Conveying a shimmering luminosity and chromatic harmony, Günther Förg’s Untitled (2007) displays a compact array of splashes of paint scattered across the white surface of the large-scale canvas. With its vibrant multi-coloured blotches fluctuating on the canvas, Untitled is a remarkable example of Förg’s painterly practice, as well as a continuation of his exploration of the intricate bond between colour and form. In the series of works produced between 2007 and 2009, Förg introduced a new zest and playfulness: in part geometric abstraction, in part a flurry of repetitive motifs, Untitled conveys a powerful materiality and musicality, which dissolve into a harmonious combination of colours. This was an essential aspect in the artist’s practice: he once stated that ‘colours emerge, the paintings become more open, and even the material’s arbitrary elements on the surface and in the patina become part of the picture’ (G. Förg, quoted in Günther Förg, Paintings on Lead, exh. cat., Thomas Dane Gallery, London 2006). In its investigation of colour and form, Untitled recalls the work of artists such as Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko, whom Förg greatly admired. However unlike these artists, whose inquiries were supported by a search for spirituality in art, Förg had no intention of exceeding reality: ‘Newman and Rothko attempted to rehabilitate in their works a unity and an order that for them had been lost,’ he explained. ‘For me, abstract art today is what one sees and nothing more’ (G. Förg quoted in Günther Förg: Painting/Sculpture/Installation, exh. cat., Newport Beach 1989, p. 6). With Untitled, Förg masterfully produced a striking visual composition, a mesmerising example of his important contribution to the development of post-War abstraction.