Eggman II, currently on view at the Skarstedt Gallery, reintroduces works by Martin Kippenberger that were originally shown in Der Eiermann und seine Ausleger (The Eggman and his Outriggers), the final exhibition of the aritst's work before his untimely death in 1997 at the age of 44. Consisting of nine paintings, a series of drawings on hotel stationery, and a sculpture, the works focus on the egg, a theme Kippenberger often revisited throughout his career.
"Always recycling imagery, the egg is the banal comedic device in Kippenberger's images," (from the show's press release). By playfully incorporating an egg into these works, Kippenberger made "indirect references to rebirth, reproduction, and the ideal of the circle." Whether showing a woman posing proudly with a giant golden egg, an embryonic dinosaur inside an egg, or the artist himself morphing into a bloated, grotesque Eggman, Kippenberger infused humor into his studies of the mundane egg form. As the artist stated: "In painting you must look what fallen fruit is left that you can paint. The egg has missed out there, Warhol already had the banana. You take a form for yourself it's always about angular, square, this and that format, about the golden mean. The egg is white and insipd, how can a colorful picture come from that?" That last bit must have been a rhetorical question. Learn more at Skarstedt.com. Through April 16th.
Untitled, 1996
Egg Sock, 1996
Untitled (Showcase with egg sculptures), 1996
Untitled (Showcase with egg sculptures) close-up, 1996
Portrait Paul Schreber,1994
Portrait Paul Schreber close-up, 1994
Eierverliebte (Infatuated Egg), 1996
Dinosaurierei (Dinosaur egg), 1996
Eifrau die man nicht schubladieren kann (Egg woman who defies categorization), 1996
Untitled (Grand Hotel), 1996, n/a
Das gute Eierfeierabenbuch (The Good Egg Leisure Pleasure book), 1993
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