Press release
“Landscape is an image, a space, a structure. A tree! Is it a real tree, or a code with a heavy ballast of history, an iconoclastic, detached signature? But even the naturalistic depiction of a tree, as natural as it may appear, has a shadow. Why paint exactly this, why do we like it when it looks pretty, why do we think that this is beauty? Because behind every tree, death is lurking. That is why the beautiful is so close to the ugly.”
Per Kirkeby
Landscapes have been depicted since the age of European Antiquity, but only from the Middle Ages onward did they gain an increased importance and originality and the ability to be classified as a unique genre. Initially conceived as environmental studies, the landscape now examines and analyzes the relationship between man and nature. To this day, landscapes are ubiquitous in the history of art.
In this exhibition, Galerie Michael Werner will present 17 works which deal with this topic in various ways: there will be abstract paintings by Don van Vliet as well as more classical approaches by Markus Lüpertz and Georg Baselitz. Two overpaintings are contributed by Per Kirkeby, and three works by Jörg Immendorff will be on view: an early LIDL-Landscape and two more recent works from 2005. An exceptional work in the exhibition is Marcel Broodthaers’ “Cherchez le chasseur. Où est le chasseur?” which reveals much of the artist’s pointed humour. Two extraordinary works by Eugène Leroy, who dealt with the topic of landscape throughout his lifetime, will be exhibited. Finally, in the cosmos of A.R. Penck, landscape is a recurrent topic, illustrated in this show by two surprising works from the 1980s.
The exhibition at Galerie Michael Werner in Märkisch Wilmersdorf opens 11 September 2017 and remains on view through 27 October 2017. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10am to 5pm. Booking in advance is recommended by phone +49 (0)33731 32010 or email galeriewerner@michaelwerner.de.