Polke worked in many media for over 50 years, so this may be a good jumping-off point to look at his works more closely. Polke liked to subvert every medium that he worked with, often incorporating the characteristic of one into another. Film was a pervasive influence in all his work.
In one of the first rooms containing Polk’s retrospective, we see his playfulness. The large painting Girlfriends (1966, image 1 above) demands our attention on the end wall of the corridor-like room. It seems like a work of Pointillism, as the viewer finds themselves walking closer, then stepping back to decipher the image. However, the dots strongly connote American Pop Art of the time including Warhol’s screenprints.
Polk continues to play tricks on the viewer in this room with Flying Saucers (1966, image 2). Again, we walk around the painting, trying to decipher the urban-like landscape. We think we see something floating in the “sky” above the “city”, but are we being influenced by the title of the work?
We see another work consisting of dots in Raster Drawing Lee Harvey Oswald, (image 3) this time in pen on paper. Here, the dots mimic the halftone photography used in newspaper reproductions. This draws a parallel again with Warhol’s Electric Chair (image 4); a comment on mass media’s fascination with crime and criminal celebrities.
Polke displays an interest in printmaking processes and characteristics. Hand Lines (1968, image 5) consists of two pieces of fabric stretched across two boards. Lines are painted on the fabric which at first glance, seem to mirror each other. On further inspection, one discovers that the two images are not identical. The title hints that the lines refer to the creases of the palms of the hands. Despite being a painting, this concern with doubles links Hand Lines to multiplicity in printmaking.
This multiplicity is seen again in Polk’s Negative Value series of 3 paintings from 1986. The varying tones of purple used in these large paintings have been used to create 3 different compositions. Furthermore, the purple paint has been treated in such a way that parts of each painting have a reflective quality and/or a bronze colour. So, the viewer sees a wholly different image every time s/he moves. The various permutations of Negative Value I (the sixth image above), II, and III connect the work to multiplicity.
Another of Polk’s series, Watchtower, consists of 7 paintings. The repetition of the image of the isolated hunting blind gives it an ominous presence. The large paintings are installed on all four walls in one room; the viewer is surrounded by these strange and oppressive towers. This method displays the hunting blinds as if they were watchtowers in a prison yard, with us, the audience, in the centre, under surveillance. Here we see multiplicity utilized to illicit fear and anxiety in the viewer. On the other hand, the individual Watchtower which is painted on bubble wrap is very aesthetically pleasing ( Watchtower (Hochsitz) 1984, image 7 above) . With its complex of intricate, intersecting lines of multiple colours and negative space and its soft surface of bubbled plastic, one can forget that the content of the painting refers to the surveillance of Nazi concentration camps.
Polk’s concern at times was the censorship of Art during World War II, and the difficulties faced by German artists thereafter. However, this subject was usually portrayed with playfulness and humour. Polk’s work is funny. 1969’s Cardboardology (image 8) depicts its own title in child-like cardboard letters. We see different colours and sizes of cardboard rectangles and squares pinned to the wall. It seems simple, sweet, aesthetically pleasing and almost naïve. But, we know that artists are not usually sweet and never naïve;
thus when we look closer, we start to wonder if the cardboard shapes are arranged in the form of a rifle. Has Polk left a nasty shock for the viewer underneath this pleasant and enjoyable work? Or, is it a compulsion of the audience to try to make sinister the most simple and innocent of works?
Is Polk trying to make the audience think that his Painting With Yellow Squares (Image 8) is a 3D piece which casts a shadow upon itself? Why is the painted depiction of “4+4=5” so funny in Solution 5 (image 9)? Is Polk mocking Durer like a schoolboy in Art history class with his rendition of Durer Hare (image 10)? Clearly, Polk utilizes humour in his work in order to make the viewer question the appreciation of Art, Art History and the idea of “the Artist as Genius”.
Polk had a long, innovative and productive career. His work is thoughtful, yet playful. His interests span many mediums. I personally respect his mode of attempting to trick the audience in order to encourage them to analyse works of Art, avoid simply believing what they see and not trusting the Artist because they think s/he may be a “genius”.
