Bohemia Lies by the Sea, Anselm Kiefer, Oil, emulsion, shellac, charcoal, and powdered paint on burlap, 75 1/4 x 221 ”, 1996
Kiefer's paintings often
revolve around a theme of Germany's abandoned past and the somber and
macabre leftovers of the Third Reich. Later in his career, during the
late eighties, Kiefer incorporated mythology, existentialism, and
psychoanalytic themes into his paintings. Many of Kiefer's paintings
reveal to us the epitome of Western tendencies in regards to setting.
He reaches into and is blessed with access to a collective memory of
ideas and histories. Kiefer's paintings are grandiose in scale,
process, and depth.
I love his pieces with a
one-point perspective composition. There is enormous anxiety within
such pieces because when looking down a field of parallel lines that
touch at the horizon, there is an innate sense of future of an
impending arrival. What generates anxiety
more than an assumed future?
Velimir Chlebnikov, Anselm Kiefer, Oil, emulsion and acrylic on canvas with mixed media, 12 x (74 13/16 x 110 ¼ ”, 2004
Immediately after seeing Kiefer's
paintings, I was fascinated by his use of ordinary found materials
encrusted in paint to create thick and penetrating impasto. His
paintings depict a nature destroyed. Landscapes have not intrigued me
the way in which people and portraits do. However, I seek to produce
portraits that show an ego destroyed, an organic identity revealed,
and conscious creation drowned out by the echo of destruction.
Aperiatur Terra et Germinet Salvatorem, Anselm Kiefer, Oil, acrylic, emulsion and shellac on canvas, 110 1/4 x 299 3/16 ”, 2005-2006
No comments:
Post a Comment