Image courtesy of Edouard Malingue Gallery
展期 Duration: 2020.05.08-05.23马凌画廊 | 香港 | 香港中环德辅道中33号6楼 Edouard Malingue Gallery | Hong KongSixth floor, 33 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong
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形状、色彩、节奏，是知名德国抽象艺术家冈瑟· 弗格（1952 年生于德国）艺术实践的重要基石。他的创作横跨绘画、雕塑及摄影。自上世纪70 年代起，弗格就以探索色彩及手势的”栅栏“或”格子”绘画跻身成为现代主义艺术的重要代表人物之一。马凌画廊十分荣幸得以汇集一系列弗格创作于1986至1992年的作品，以呈现此次历史性展览。弗格于该时期的创作，建立于他在80 年代初对摄影、冲印和重要政治建筑结构的关注之上。这次罕有的陈列展，沿着色域理论与造物的抽象性而展开，将更能体现弗格是20 至21 世纪最杰出和最具创新力的画家之一。
木底铅面丙烯颜料 Acrylic on lead on panelImage courtesy of Edouard Malingue Gallery弗格的艺术生涯起始于1973至1979年在慕尼黑美术学院的求学经历。他于70 年代便开始绘画创作，而后于80 年代末又重新回归到这一创作媒介。他的作品与色域理论及形式抽象主义相关，在某种程度上受到如埃斯沃兹· 凯利（Ellsworth Kelly ）等美国抽象表现主义艺术家的影响。在本次展出的作品里，弗格在完整表面上所分布绘制的平坦、坚实的大面积纯色区域，正反映了他对色域理论的独到认同。同时，弗格又任由木材与铅的物质特性渗透于这批画作之中，则似在揭露他对这场艺术运动的一种个人化理解：当色域理论较少地关注于绘画的手势、笔触和行动，而更多地着眼于形式与过程的统一时，会创作出何样的作品？
在这层意义上，我们或许可更进一步思考弗格与马克· 罗斯科（Mark Rothko ）、巴尼特· 纽曼（Barnett Newman ）和克利福特· 史蒂尔（Clyfford Still ）等第二波抽象表现主义艺术家之间的关系。区别于弗格那些植根于具象绘画的慕尼黑学院同僚，弗格更多地将目光投到那批美国艺术家身上。这群美国艺术家对宗教与神话深怀兴趣，并试图以简朴的构图与巨大的色块来营造某种沉思、冥想般的观看体验。正如巴尼特· 纽曼于1948 年的一篇文章中所写：“与其从基督、人、或'生命' 中创造教堂，不如从我们的自身和情感中来创造教堂”[1]。
Image courtesy of Edouard Malingue Gallery
比方说，在弗格的《无题》（1992 ）中，一种浅常绿与一种暗红色并置于同一画面上，分别占据着竖立矩形画幅的各半。尽管这是一组对立的单色，但木底铅面上的丙烯颜料却暴露着它的基底，从而令画作浮现某种手势的气息，同时又唤起一种冷热同体的平静感。同样，在更早的《无题》（1986 ）系列组绘画中，十张绘画各将一种独特的颜色以绘画性手法镶嵌于深米色的色带之中。画作严格遵循色彩与线条的关系，但绘画的姿态与本能运动仍然成立于画面之中，似是向材料的致敬。每当从其中一幅作品过渡到另一件时，观看的感官反应也相应地产生转变，如从兴奋变至平和。然而，若出于对画作基底材料的考虑，我们或许甚至能说这些作品不仅仅是“绘画”。确实，每一幅画作都附有某种重量感，这也表明弗格对“造物”边界的不断探索与游戏。
Image courtesy of Edouard Malingue Gallery作为那个时代最伟大的艺术家之一，弗格始终不懈地考验绘画的界限与艺术史方法，以图证明绘画“仍未过时”[2]。他重新发明了绘画，也重塑了自己。他从各种来源汲取灵感，创作出影响后世的画作，铺设了一条对形状、色彩和感觉的新颖鉴赏之路。借由本次呈现于马凌画廊的历史性研究，我们立足于这位艺术人物生命中的重要时刻，而得以重新审视弗格整个完整的绘画生涯。
[1] 巴内特· 纽曼：“崇高即此刻”，1948 年
[2] 见冈瑟· 弗格与大卫· 瑞安（David Ryan ）之对谈“Talking Painting ”中，由Karlsruhe 出版于1997 年。弗格：“Really, painting should be sexy. It should be sensual. These are things that will always escape the concept. I think painting is a resilient practice; if you look through the history of painting it doesn't change so much and we always see it in the present. It is still now. ”
Image courtesy of Edouard Malingue Gallery
Form, colour and rhythm are the cornerstones of renowned German abstract artist Günther Förg’s (b. 1952, Germany) practice, which spans painting, sculpture and photography. Since the 1970s, Förg has been a key artistic voice in the world of modernism, establishing recognition for his ‘gitter’ or ‘grid’ paintings that articulate considerations of colour and gesturality. Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong is thrilled to bring together a historical exhibition of Förg’s 1986-1992 works, which were developed after the artist’s early 80s interlude with photography, prints and politically significant architectural structures. Through this rare display that verges on colour field theory and abstraction to object-making, Förg demonstrates how he was one of the greatest and most innovative painters of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Förg embarked on his artistic journey by studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1973-9. Commencing as a painter in the 70s and returning to the medium in the late 1980s, Förg created works that play on colour field theory as well as formal abstraction, referencing, to an extent, late American abstract expressionist artists, such as Ellsworth Kelly. In the exhibition, Förg presents a particular nod to colour field theory by creating large fields of flat, solid colour spread across areas of an unbroken surface. Förg equally unveils his personal interpretation and departing from the movement: while colour field theory placed less emphasis on gesture, brushstrokes and action in favour of an overall consistency of form and process, in these works, Förg permits the material properties of wood and lead to seep through.
木底铅面丙烯颜料 Acrylic on lead laid on woodImage courtesy of Edouard Malingue GalleryIn this sense, we may also think of Förg’s relationship to the second wave of abstract expressionists such as Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still. By comparison to his Munich classmates who were more rooted in figuration, Förg was looking at these American artists who were deeply interested in religion and myth and created simple compositions with large areas of colour intended to produce a contemplative or meditational response in the viewer. As described in an essay written in 1948 by Barnett Newman: ‘Instead of making cathedrals out of Christ, man, or ‘’life’’, we are making it out of ourselves, out of our own feelings’ [1].
Image courtesy of Edouard Malingue Gallery
Consider, for example, ‘Untitled’ (1992) that juxtaposes a light evergreen with a sombre red, each occupying half of the vertical rectangular painting. Despite its oppositional dual monochromatism, there is a sense of gesturality to the painting that appears from the application of the acrylic paint on the surface revealing its background of lead on wood foundations. The work also elicits a sense of calm, a binary of warmth and cool. Similarly, the earlier series ‘Untitled’ (1986) is composed of 10 works, each focusing on a distinct colour, framed in a painterly manner by bands of dark beige. There is a strict obedience to line and colour but again, an element of gesture and instinctive movement is allowed to appear, an homage to material. Jumping from one work to another, a different sensation also occurs, from excitement to relaxation. By honouring the background material, however, we may argue that these are also not simply ‘paintings’. Indeed, each has an added weight, pointing to Förg’s continual experimentation and his playing with the perimeters of object-making.
木底铅面丙烯颜料 Acrylic on lead on panelImage courtesy of Edouard Malingue GalleryUltimately, Förg is one of the greatest artists of his time, consistently demonstrating that indeed painting “it is still now” [2], testing its boundaries and art historical approaches. He reinvented the medium and himself, drawing multiple sources of inspiration creating works that would impact generations to come, paving the ground for a novel appreciation of form, colour and feel. Through this historical survey at Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong we are introduced to a seismic moment in this historical figure’s life while prompted to be in touch with our own reflections around the cycle of the painterly.
[1] Barnett Newman, ‘The Sublime is Now’ (1948).
[2] Günther Förg in conversation with David Ryan ‘Talking Painting’, Karlsruhe (1997) see: “Really, painting should be sexy. It should be sensual. These are things that will always escape the concept. I think painting is a resilient practice; if you look through the history of painting it doesn’t change so much and we always see it in the present. It is still now.”
冈瑟·弗格是其所处时代最为重要的艺术家之一，曾于达拉斯艺术博物馆(2019)、阿姆斯特丹市立博物馆(2019)、慕尼黑布兰德霍斯特博物馆(2014)、巴塞尔贝耶勒基金会(2009)，不来梅艺术馆(2006)，巴塞尔美术馆(2006)等重要机构举办过大型回顾性个展。他也曾参加过芝加哥当代艺术博物馆(2020)、卢森堡让大公现代美术馆(2018)、法兰克福现代美术馆(2017)、柏林汉堡车站美术馆(2013)等地所举办的群展。他曾于1996年获得科隆路德维希博物馆沃尔夫冈·哈恩奖。弗格的作品现存于全球多个重要的公共及私人收藏之中，其中包括：纽约现代艺术博物馆，威尼斯弗朗索瓦·皮诺基金会，柏林戴姆勒当代艺术馆，柏林汉堡火车站美术馆，圣莫尼卡布洛德当代美术馆，伦敦泰特现代美术馆，旧金山现代艺术博物馆，明尼阿波利斯沃克艺术中心，马德里索菲亚国家艺术中心博物馆，洛杉矶当代美术馆（格兰德大道馆），都灵里沃利城堡当代美术馆，巴塞尔美术馆。
Günther Förg is one of the most seminal artists of his generation and has held major solo retrospectives at Dallas Art Museum, Dallas (2019), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2019), Museum Brandhorst, Munich (2014), Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2009), Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen (2006), Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel (2006), amongst others. Group exhibitions include Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2020), MUDAM, Luxembourg (2018), Museum Für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2017), Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2013), amongst others. In 1996 he was the recipient of the Wolfgang-Hahn Preis from the Museum Ludwig, Cologne. Förg’s work is held in multiple notable public and private collections across the world including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; François Pinault Foundation, Venice; Daimler Contemporary, Berlin; Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin; Broad Contemporary Art Museum, Santa Monica; Tate Modern, London; SFMOMA, San Francisco; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles; Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Castello di Rivoli, Turin; and Kunstmuseum Basel.