Book Description

The focus of this catalog lies on a series of six large-format paintings that Günther Förg originally produced in 2003 for a group show at the baroque castle of Dyck. The paintings are held in various shades of gray, with bright accents in red and pink, and were fit by the artist into the 80-inch wall panels of his exhibition room in the castle. When in 2017 they were shown at Galerie Max Hetzler in Berlin, this sitespecific work turned into a powerful series of pure, absolute paintings. Reinforced by a selection of smaller paintings from the same time, the complete historical dimension of these works becomes visible--abstract, almost minimalist but still evoking an idea of nature. Central to their success is Förg's very immediate manner of painting, as described by Matthias Buck in his essay: "The viewer, standing back from these paintings, can take up the perspective of the artist at work. While we have the picture in its present totality before us, we also have an overview of its path to completion. The painting comes across not as the overwhelming result of an artistic genesis that remains the secret of its creator, but as a transparent entity which, precisely because it has no secret, amazes us with the simplicity of means by which very complex pictorial effects have been created." Exhibition: Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany (28.04.-03.06-2017).