Many works in this exhibition reflect Polke’s
ongoing fascination with the relationship between abstract and figurative
art. The centre piece of the exhibition is the vast abstract Triptych
(2002), consisting of three panels of swirling streaks and washes.
Although this work seems to be the product of a spontaneous creative
urge, the shapes are actually manipulated and enlarged sections
from two of the Machine Paintings. The painted image is overlaid
with layers of resin, but is transparent enough to allow the wooden
stretcher bars to show through. These create a neat grid which contrasts
with the organic shapes on the surface. In this work Polke plays
with references to different styles of abstract painting, both abstract
geometric structures and expressive washes and mark-making.
Elsewhere in the exhibition Polke combines these different
styles of abstraction with figurative imagery – cartoons,
childish scribbles and references to art history. In Untitled
(1999), three different views of windmills are connected by sweeping
webs of black and blue paint. With the presence of cartoon-like
labouring figures and a nineteenth-century puppeteer, this apparently
quirky juxtaposition of images begins to suggest an oddly haunting
landscape.
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Triptych 2002
Courtesy Michael Werner, New York and Cologne © Sigmar
Polke |
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