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23/2/2004

Gunther Forg

Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin

Galerie Max Hetzler is pleased to present early paintings and recent photographs by Günther Förg in the Holzmarktstraße gallery.

The early paintings comprise of a 12-part series with monochrome paintings from 1976, and a 32-part series from 1987. Both series are executed in Günther Förg's typical lead technique where a lead sheet is wrapped over wood and then painted with acrylic. The meeting of the heavy, blunt and rarely smooth lead surfaces with the seemingly swift and hasty applied colours that let the painting surface become visible, gives these paintings their own particularity.

The yellow 12-part series is the first monochrome set in the oeuvre of the artist. The concept for this set originates in Günther Förg's interest in combining picture panels with the three-dimensional space.

Förg started to work with monochrome surfaces with huge grey canvases between 1973 till the end of the seventies. Then the artist received fresh impetus for carrying on with canvas painting, by experiences resulting from his wall painting works he did since 1978. First Förg used only one colour to paint ceilings and/or walls. Soon vertical and horizontal bisections were used to deal with the contrast of different colours. This procedure was transferred to painting. During the eighties his paintings became structured. The compositional work culminates in sets like the 32-part series from 1987 that originally was developed for the Museum Haus Lange in Krefeld. This series shows complex arrangements, a formal 'alphabet' with differing surface divisions.

In this exhibition the paintings are complemented by six large photographs from 2001. These are part of a series that deals with classical modern architecture in Turkey. In the twenties of the last century the West European oriented Turkish leader Kemal Atatürk invited among others the German and Austrian architects Bruno Taut, Clemens Holzmeister and Ernst Egli, to create official buildings in Istanbul and especially in Ankara, the new capital.

Günther Förg takes hold on these architectures with his typical quick and spontaneous working method. Sometimes the artist approaches the building as a whole, sometimes he choses insights into the architectural structure of a court yard, then the view goes to the front of a building that dynamically grows into the sky. The photographs seem to be an unsentimental representation and an homage to a period in art history, where clear formal solutions, harmony and elegance predominated.

A catalogue is published in collaboration with Holzwarth Publications, Berlin, edited by Thomas Groetz. It contains a selection of paintings from 1973 to 1990, an interview with the artist and an essay by Siegfried Gohr.

Günther Förg was born in Füssen in 1952. He is closely related to the gallery, where he presented his works regulary since 1983 in Cologne and in Berlin in solo and group exhibitons. Since the mid-80's his work appears internationally in art Institutions and Museums.
Günther Förg holds a professorship for painting at the Art Academy in Munich.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11am - 6pm.

Image: Günther Förg
Untitled 1987
Acrylic on lead on wood
32 parts, each 60 x 40 cm

For further information please contact the gallery under 030 24 04 56 30 or visit our website.

Galerie Max Hetzler Holzmarktstraße 15-18 / S-Bahnbogen 48 Berlin-Mitte

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