Polke’s work has consistently investigated the
terrain of collective visual culture. His paintings ask questions
about the meaning of being an artist in a world bombarded with images,
and explore the relationship between different kinds of imagery.
Since the early 1960s he has juxtaposed images from very different
sources, such as fabric patterns, magazine advertising, cartoons
and the icons of art history. These works challenge the traditional
hierarchy of imagery, and confront the fact that in today’s
world no image is sacred: everything is subject to instant reproduction
and dissemination all over the world.
This exhibition brings together works inspired by
diverse source material (newspapers, satellite photography, 19th
century illustrations, among others), but also shows the journey
of a single image through different permutations. The Afghan horsemen
photographed by satellite in The Hunt for the Taliban and Al
Qaeda (2002/3) reappear in History of Everything II (2002),
and again in I Live in My Own World but it’s OK, They
Know Me Here (2002), where they have been magnified to the
point of disintegration. This repeated image reflects the rapid
circulation of imagery within the mass media and shows how easily
images can be manipulated, thereby drastically changing their meaning
and significance.
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I Live in My Own World, but It's OK, They Know Me Here 2002
Courtesy Michael Werner, New York and Cologne © Sigmar
Polke |
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