IMI KNOEBEL – RAUM 19 IV
2014-04-14Imi Knoebel belongs to the group of artists that have developed a radical, minimal form vocabulary in the 1960s. Since the beginning of his artistic career, Kasimir Malerwitch has always been a very important reference point. Avoiding any figuration, his early work is characterized by a reduced use of color and a geometric form language: having started with black and white line paintings and plywood installations, he later turned to colorful painting on wood or aluminum. His mostly serial work procedure on standardized materials always reveals the hand-made gesture of the artist, such as visible brush strokes.
The room-installation Raum 19, which Imi Knoebel realised in the Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie in 1968, plays a major role in his non-figuartive work that already back then ranges between painting and object. Constructive basic forms made of hardboard, such as circular segments, stretcher frames, cubes and boards are stacked or arranged side by side. “Despite its sculptural-installative presence, Raum 19 alludes to fundamental questions of painting. This is made clear by an arsenal of stretchers and its parts, that have acquit themselves of their function as picture carriers but still refer to painting at the same time.” (Bernhard Bürgi, 1989). Also the leaning or stacked hardboards remind of monochrome panel paintings Imi Knoebel later works on in his group of Hartfaserbilder.
Exhibition runs through to June 7th, 2014
Galerie Christian Lethert
Antwerpener Straße 4
D – 50672 Köln (Cologne)
Germany
