Günther Förg - Contemporary Art London Friday, October 13, 2006 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Luhring Augustine Hetzler Gallery, Santa Monica; Galerie Michael Janssen, Cologne

  • Catalogue Essay

    For Günther Förg, clear geometric forms and monochromatic fields of color take on the central roles which pervade his painted works. While it seems natural to consider Förg a minimalist painter, the examination of the range of his work, however, demonstrates Förg's dual purposes. His mimicry of minimalism is indeed an homage, but it also strives to highlight the failure of modernist ideals. Förg’s fascination is shared with many German artists of his Post-War generation. The aftermath of World War II left younger generations struggling with ambivalence toward their own cultural legacy. This dilemma, though not always directly expressed in the content, plays a central role in his work. Förg's work attempts to reassess the positive impulse that drove modern art, art based on paring down color, shape and line to a crucial essence, by using its devices. Untitled, 1990, the present lot, consists of a wood panel sheathed in lead, with a sensual vertical stripe of red paint running down its side. The density and toxicity of lead serves as a reminder of modernism's lingering aftermath in art and society, at the same time offering a peculiarly tactile surface, filled with complex subtleties of color.

68

Untitled

1990
Acrylic, lead and wood.
110 1/4 x 63 in. (280 x 160 cm).
Signed, inscribed and dated on the reverse.

Estimate
£10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for £66,000

Contemporary Art

14 Oct 2006, 7pm
London