Lot 140 D

During 1989 and 1990, Günther Förg developed large-scale series in a rapid and intensive creative process - his famous lead as well as canvas paintings and works on paper - which have a monumental appearance due to their vertical orientation. The physical presence of these works is pushed to extremes due to their materiality, however, it even dominates the works on paper such as the example on offer here. What's more, in his abstract, minimalist compositions, the artist committed himself to the vertical also in terms of content.
When using lead as a picture carrier, Förg consciously sets the irregularities and furrows of the material in vivid contrast to the austerity of the composition. The works on canvas or paper reach a comparable degree of animation due to the visible application of paint. In this case, the wide brushstrokes, streaks, drip marks and the strongly diverging intensity of applied paint lend the picture plane an irregular, visual structure held in hues of orange, grey and beige. It possesses a narrative quality, which allows the work's individual creation process to be traceable right down to a single brush stroke. The observer's gaze wanders involuntarily from one detail to the next, finding stability only in the two vertical black bars that stand out firmly and clearly against this background.