Oil on canvas. Signed, dated, titled and with direction arrows on the reverse of the folded canvas. 40.5 x 31 cm.
In the original artist frame. [KA].
- A nuanced painting with striking presence. - “White is pure energy” - Raimund Girke. - The ideal of the color white positions Girke close to the artist group "ZERO".
The present work “Vertikale” from 1969 should be viewed as a continuation of Girke's steady reduction. The earthy tones that predominated in the 1950s, such as ochre, umber or sienna, seem to have disappeared entirely from Girke's palette. The artist's preference for white has replaced almost all shades except delicately shimmering, light gray, and white-bluish streaks. The picture, liberated from any representational association, appears as a mood painting. The light bright streaks' application lends the surface a sense of motion that enhances the radiance of the white throughout the entire picture. The artist claims: “Black and gray enhance the white; they support it and play only a subordinate, supporting role. They modulate the white in the finest nuances and make it vibrate; they give it a continuous momentum and thus life. Black, gray, and white alternate constantly in close succession, creating the above vibrations.” (quoted from: Raimund Girke in the accompanying catalog to the exhibition “Das Einfache, das schwer zu machen ist”, Galerie Adam Seide, Hanover, quoted in Raimund Girke - Malerei, Dietmar Elger, Cantz, 1995, p. 34).
The present work “Vertikale” from 1969 should be viewed as a continuation of Girke's steady reduction. The earthy tones that predominated in the 1950s, such as ochre, umber or sienna, seem to have disappeared entirely from Girke's palette. The artist's preference for white has replaced almost all shades except delicately shimmering, light gray, and white-bluish streaks. The picture, liberated from any representational association, appears as a mood painting. The light bright streaks' application lends the surface a sense of motion that enhances the radiance of the white throughout the entire picture. The artist claims: “Black and gray enhance the white; they support it and play only a subordinate, supporting role. They modulate the white in the finest nuances and make it vibrate; they give it a continuous momentum and thus life. Black, gray, and white alternate constantly in close succession, creating the above vibrations.” (quoted from: Raimund Girke in the accompanying catalog to the exhibition “Das Einfache, das schwer zu machen ist”, Galerie Adam Seide, Hanover, quoted in Raimund Girke - Malerei, Dietmar Elger, Cantz, 1995, p. 34).