Artist Research - Günther Förg
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(Link to gallery I looked at online)
Günther Förg was a German artist from Allgaü, Germany. Throughout his work, he heavily rejected the idea of modernism, which was big in Germany during the 1980s. He had a keen interest in fragmentation and the political climate of his era in Germany.
He studied in the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, and focused heavily on abstract and minimalist work throughout his career.
During my tutorial, as I was showing Eoin my sketchbook, he mentioned Förg, as his Spot Paintings (Tupfenbilder), seem very similar to the way I work in my sketchbook when I'm figuring out colour swatches and texture.
In the article I read, it was written that Förg's paintings were "a full circle arrival at painting as a synthesis of experimentation", I found this really interesting as I think this sentence relates to my project in a way. Of course, I in no way regard myself as as skilled and meticulous as Förg, but it was interesting to find little similarities in our work.
My project is based all around circular rotation and moving in circles, something this artist has done in his spot paintings and something I am trying to achieve in experimentation through the different electives. I hope my work reflects this idea of coming full circle through the interdisciplinary effort to combine paint, print and photography in these sketchbook pages.
His spot paintings, as shown above some of my sketchbook pages, were deeply inspired by seeing Francis Bacon's studio, as Bacon would work out the value of colour by dabbing pigment from his brush to paper and cloth.
Förg is a fabulous painter, and a true testament to how abstract and minimalist art is not as simple as it may seem on the surface.
