Rome, Gagosian Gallery, Georg Baselitz: La Grande Notte in Bianco, 23 September-8 November 2008.
Catalogue Essay
Underpinning Georg Baselitz’s practice is an investigation and confrontation of the visceral realities present in German history. Emerging as a pioneer of German Neo Expressionist painting, his work evokes disturbing, unrefined and grotesque subjects. Shocking subject was intended to unsettle the viewer, in order to encourage an awakening that Baselitz believed as vital in the aftermath of World War Two.
Big Night (Remix), 2008 is a striking example of the artist’s Remix paintings, in which he revisits his successful and provocative earlier works by making new versions of them upon years of reflection. The present lot is an updated version of his most controversial work, The Big Night Down the Drain, 1963, which depicts a faceless figure- often referred to as a young boy- holding an exaggerated phallus. The present lot shows the same figure, however, this time; the gestures of paint appear more rapid and spontaneous. The figure’s transparency appears before us like a ghost rising beyond the picture plane. The overall piece has a sense of vibrancy, due to the brighter colours utilised. Baselitz has transformed the once sombre and melancholic depiction into one that is more radically fresh and liberated. And yet, the subject remains- a flash of the past that never ceases to haunt.
From the Collection of an Important European Collector