Sigmar Polke

In Sigmar Polke’s (1941-2010) picture entitled Medallion (1988), it is possible to follow the artistic process from the first textile layer: a lavender and white imitation tweed. Over this there is a white form. It is in the centre of the textile and seems to have spread in much the same way as oil in a frying pan. It creates a background for the super-imposed illustration. One could alternatively say that the white paint has seeped or bled out from under the illustration, which is then framed in by a horizontal oval. The oval form resembles an amulet, or medallion, thus the work’s title. The illustration on sepia ground is heavily lacquered and has a narrative, tactile appeal. It depicts a politically motivated execution. The scene, one Polke found in an eighteenth-century leaflet, concerns the French General the Marquis de Lafayette. He was an aristocrat, but his role in the French Revolution was ambiguous.

Polke is a versatile, playful artist. In the early 1960s he followed a conceptual track, but eventually began on an 'art laboratory' project, mixing alchemistic ideas with figurative and abstract expressions. His pictures are filled with references to recent or ancient history, the source material for which he often finds in magazines, old books or in private photo albums. Polke is also a visually groundbreaking artist because he combines a skeptical view of Modernism’s traditions (common for artists producing works in the 1960s) with an equally skeptical attitude toward the fragmentation often found in Postmodern art.

He creates narrative works that are seemingly inspired by hallucinations and dreams. The numerous layers consist of textiles, stencils and appropriations from popular culture and other sources, all combined with an alchemistic blend of paint, chemicals, finely-ground minerals and resin. Generally speaking, alchemy is associated with medievalists who sought, via chemical processes, to change base metals into gold. The romantic concept of alchemy – the dream of refinement and spiritual perfection – might also affect Polke’s world of ideas. He treats his images with poisonous, unstable chemicals, and tops them with a resinous layer that seems to comment on what lies beneath.
In his works Polke grapples with what it means for something to be genuine; he takes issue with Modernism’s conception of autonomous expression: is what we see here the imprint of uncontrolled chemical processes? Does it correspond to the image’s 'true' nature? At the same time as he confronts us with such questions, he uses the visual languages of advertising, contemporary news-reporting and consumer culture, all of which constitute our most common means of communication. In so doing, he helps stake out the direction of postmodern art. Situated between Modernism and Postmodernism, he has exercised great influence on international contemporary art.

Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter and Anselm Kiefer belong to the first generation of German artists who helped German art regain prestige and significance after WWII.

In 2001 Astrup Fearnley Museum presented the first Scandinavian solo exhibition of Polk’s works.

EB