G眉nther F枚rg: An Intimate Encounter: The Early Years
Galerie Max Hetzler London is delighted to present early formative works by G眉nther F枚rg in the new London space. This follows the recent major survey exhibition G眉nther F枚rg: A Fragile Beauty at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Dallas Museum of Art, Texas.
Bringing together paintings, large-scale photographs, a wall relief and sculpture dating from 1977-1995, An Intimate Encounter: The Early Years highlights the tactile and ephemeral qualities of F枚rg's work across his multidisciplinary practice. Focusing on the materiality of F枚rg鈥檚 early works, this exhibition creates an environment in which to consider the human touch within his oeuvre.
F枚rg's energy and spontaneity in the act of making are revealed through the gestures and heavy mark-making visible in the surface of the torso sculpture and bronze wall relief, as well as the imprecise edges of the paintings and snapshot-like quality of his photographs. Strong protruding wooden shapes emerging from the yellow canvas of Untitled, 1988, and embedded grooves in a work from his rare series of paintings on copper, highlight the physical nature of F枚rg鈥檚 process.
Contained within F枚rg's photographs is the notion of time's passage and the ephemerality of the lived experience. The artist became interested in photography in the early 1980s, presenting his works in a way that countered contemporary convention: large-scale, and in artist-built frames, they became architectural objects. The tall reflective glass surfaces engage the viewer in the present moment and through their sheer scale the works embed themselves in the built environment around them.
The photographs shown in this exhibition are intimate portraits of transient moments and spaces of temporary inhabitance. Pinakothek M眉nchen, 1983, (Untitled) Treppenhaus, 1984, and Dach Casa Malaparte, 1984, each feature staircases, spaces of transition that physically capture the movement from one time and place to another. In Pinakothek M眉nchen F枚rg recorded an intimate moment of light spilling through the museum windows. Installed at the gallery this motif is mirrored by the room's own architecture. Dach Casa Malaparte was taken whilst holidaying in the Italian modernist villa in Capri famed for its appearance in Jean-Luc Godard鈥檚 Le M茅pris (1963).
The exhibition also features early paintings whose strong block colours emphasize the notion of seriality, repetition, gesture and tactility. For F枚rg, the monochromatic shapes both challenge and complement the spaces in which they are installed, reflecting back a sense of how space can be divided and rearranged in a playful and intelligent manner. Showing intimate traces of the artist鈥檚 brushwork on their surfaces, these works reveal the contradictions F枚rg enjoyed bringing together. The neatly stacked painted aluminium panels of Untitled, 1977 call to mind Minimal Art. Yet they also deny the conventions of that movement in the highly visible, energetic brushstrokes. The coloured rows unite into what the artist referred to as a 鈥榝loating form鈥�, the work鈥檚 painterly components radiating a strong sense of weightlessness. Together with the bronze wall relief Untitled, 1988, the artist's direct contact with the material is evident and experimental, particularly in the depressions and elevations of the cast bronze.
Recommended for you
Galerie Max Hetzler London is delighted to present early formative works by G眉nther F枚rg in the new London space. This follows the recent major survey exhibition G眉nther F枚rg: A Fragile Beauty at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the Dallas Museum of Art, Texas.
Bringing together paintings, large-scale photographs, a wall relief and sculpture dating from 1977-1995, An Intimate Encounter: The Early Years highlights the tactile and ephemeral qualities of F枚rg's work across his multidisciplinary practice. Focusing on the materiality of F枚rg鈥檚 early works, this exhibition creates an environment in which to consider the human touch within his oeuvre.
F枚rg's energy and spontaneity in the act of making are revealed through the gestures and heavy mark-making visible in the surface of the torso sculpture and bronze wall relief, as well as the imprecise edges of the paintings and snapshot-like quality of his photographs. Strong protruding wooden shapes emerging from the yellow canvas of Untitled, 1988, and embedded grooves in a work from his rare series of paintings on copper, highlight the physical nature of F枚rg鈥檚 process.
Contained within F枚rg's photographs is the notion of time's passage and the ephemerality of the lived experience. The artist became interested in photography in the early 1980s, presenting his works in a way that countered contemporary convention: large-scale, and in artist-built frames, they became architectural objects. The tall reflective glass surfaces engage the viewer in the present moment and through their sheer scale the works embed themselves in the built environment around them.
The photographs shown in this exhibition are intimate portraits of transient moments and spaces of temporary inhabitance. Pinakothek M眉nchen, 1983, (Untitled) Treppenhaus, 1984, and Dach Casa Malaparte, 1984, each feature staircases, spaces of transition that physically capture the movement from one time and place to another. In Pinakothek M眉nchen F枚rg recorded an intimate moment of light spilling through the museum windows. Installed at the gallery this motif is mirrored by the room's own architecture. Dach Casa Malaparte was taken whilst holidaying in the Italian modernist villa in Capri famed for its appearance in Jean-Luc Godard鈥檚 Le M茅pris (1963).
The exhibition also features early paintings whose strong block colours emphasize the notion of seriality, repetition, gesture and tactility. For F枚rg, the monochromatic shapes both challenge and complement the spaces in which they are installed, reflecting back a sense of how space can be divided and rearranged in a playful and intelligent manner. Showing intimate traces of the artist鈥檚 brushwork on their surfaces, these works reveal the contradictions F枚rg enjoyed bringing together. The neatly stacked painted aluminium panels of Untitled, 1977 call to mind Minimal Art. Yet they also deny the conventions of that movement in the highly visible, energetic brushstrokes. The coloured rows unite into what the artist referred to as a 鈥榝loating form鈥�, the work鈥檚 painterly components radiating a strong sense of weightlessness. Together with the bronze wall relief Untitled, 1988, the artist's direct contact with the material is evident and experimental, particularly in the depressions and elevations of the cast bronze.
Artists on show
What's on nearby
