Artist: George Baselitz
Title: Manipolare
Year: 2019
Dimension: 168 x 92 x3.8 cm
Technique: Oil and gold varnish on canvas
Price: TBC
About the Artist
“Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938) is a German painter, sculptor and graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his subjects upside down in an effort to overcome the representational, content-driven character of his earlier work and stress the artifice of painting. Drawing from myriad influences, including art of Soviet era illustration art, the Mannerist period and African sculptures, he developed his own, distinct artistic language.
He was born, as Hans-Georg Kern, in Deutschbaselitz [de], Upper Lusatia, Germany. He grew up amongst the suffering and demolition of World War II, and the concept of destruction plays a significant role in his life and work. These autobiographical circumstances have therefore returned throughout his whole oeuvre. In this context, the artist stated in an interview: “I was born into a destroyed order, a destroyed landscape, a destroyed people, a destroyed society. And I didn’t want to re-establish an order: I had seen enough of so-called order. I was forced to question everything, to be ‘naive’, to start again.” By disrupting any given orders and breaking the common conventions of perception, Baselitz has formed his personal circumstances into his guiding artistic principles. To this day, he still inverts all his paintings, which has become his unique and most defining feature in his work.”
Text taken from https://www.wikipedia.org
What does this work say (to me)?
It has been few months since my last post.
It is my commitment just to write about art pieces that fulfill three conditions: they have to be available at the moment I see them, I have to experience them in real and they have to touch me either in an emotional or a rational way.
Due to the reopening of art galleries after the lockdown, we can again enjoy the creations of many artists. Hopefully, the art fairs will follow soon.
So, here it is… my first post after the “hibernation” period
I have been familiar with the work of George Baselitz since my university years. I always have enjoyed expressionism very much, all those works loaded with emotions, expressing the torments and joy of human life and its circumstances.
There is a level of tragedy that for me has been very often portrayed by Baselitz in his works and when I saw this one it hits me in a particular way probably because the colour palette, probably because it reminded me the sad story of Grendel in Beowulf, his pain, savagery, torment and loneliness.
Even though the hand-painted refers to a human one there is something in its construction, shape and use of colour that makes it closer to that of a creature whose hand has been severed from its body being the only thing that remains of “It”.
The yellow brings time to the equation; the object then feels like a fossil, a pattern engraved on the darkens of time, a time that has been too long, it feels primeval.
I avoid reading about what the artist wanted to say before I write about the painting. I enjoy to “listen” what the work is telling me, I enjoy creating a story around it, giving it meaning to me.
The scale of this work, its drama and simplicity are all aspects that make it strong, bold and disturbing like a drop of blood on a white cloth.
In what Room to place it?
Due to the scale and its boldness, I would place it in any room that can offer it the space to breathe; however, in my case, I could not live with this piece in my bedroom.
Having the artist used just two colours this makes this work somehow “easy” to live with if you look at it in a not attentive way.
Displaying it
Lighting should be pointed at the hand exclusively, if possible, leaving the background to acquire its full depth.
