Mixed media on canvas over synthetic wadding on canvas. Signed, dated and with a direction arrow on the reverse. 102 x 102 x 10 cm. . [JS].
• Cutting-edge aesthetics: Graubner's famous “Color-Space-Bodies” broke the boundaries of classic panel painting. • Open, profound and highly liberated color effects with a stunning spatial presence. • Graubner's three-dimensional “Color-Space-Painting” became his artistic signature. • Most recently, the MKM Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg, among others, honored Graubner's oeuvre in the exhibition “Farbe Absolut. Katharina Grosse x Gotthard Graubner” (2019/20). • Comparable works can be found in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt a. Main, in the Contemporary Art Collection of the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin, as well as in the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
Galerie m, Bochum. Private collection, Hesse (acquired from the above in 1986)
While Graubner initially covered his early cushion pictures with delicate nylon fabrics, he gradually began using firm canvas fabrics, which he lined with padding, for his later, larger-format “Color-Space-Bodies,” such as the present vibrant work. The paint is usually applied onto the image carrier on the floor using broom-like brushes, resulting in a cloudy depth of color. In our outstanding composition, the viewer is drawn into the green depth. Numerous stages of drying and a unique compositional sensibility, a crucial feature of Graubner's painting, are required to intensify the complexity of the individual color values into a “Color-Space-Bodies” of oscillating effect and unique aesthetic presence. To amplify the spatial impact of the colored surfaces, Graubner began stretching Perlon fabric over full-sized color cushions as early as the beginning of the 1960s. By soaking and painting the fabric cushions with several layers of diluted acrylic paint, Graubner created a floating, breathing compaction, like a color space stretching towards the viewer. In 1970, Graubner finally replaced the older work titles “Farbleib” and “Kissenbild” with the title “Farbraumkörper” (Color-Space-Body). These impressive painterly creations were first exhibited by the renowned Düsseldorf gallerist Alfred Schmela, one of the first gallerists to present the young “ZERO” artists in the 1960s and the first to present Gerhard Richter in a solo exhibition at his gallery in 1964. In 1968, Graubner exhibited his early “Cushion Pictures” at the documenta in Kassel. 1969, he was appointed professor at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. From the 1980s onwards, Graubner's large-format “Color-Space-Bodies” successfully continued the maximum dissolution of the boundaries of color, as our work impressively demonstrates. For the innovative aesthetics of his three-dimensional painting, Graubner's “Color-Space-Bodies” are considered the central work complex in the artist's oeuvre. [JS]
Condition report on request katalogisierung@kettererkunst.de
Lot Details
Mixed media on canvas over synthetic wadding on canvas. Signed, dated and with a direction arrow on the reverse. 102 x 102 x 10 cm. . [JS].
• Cutting-edge aesthetics: Graubner's famous “Color-Space-Bodies” broke the boundaries of classic panel painting. • Open, profound and highly liberated color effects with a stunning spatial presence. • Graubner's three-dimensional “Color-Space-Painting” became his artistic signature. • Most recently, the MKM Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg, among others, honored Graubner's oeuvre in the exhibition “Farbe Absolut. Katharina Grosse x Gotthard Graubner” (2019/20). • Comparable works can be found in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt a. Main, in the Contemporary Art Collection of the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin, as well as in the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
Galerie m, Bochum. Private collection, Hesse (acquired from the above in 1986)
While Graubner initially covered his early cushion pictures with delicate nylon fabrics, he gradually began using firm canvas fabrics, which he lined with padding, for his later, larger-format “Color-Space-Bodies,” such as the present vibrant work. The paint is usually applied onto the image carrier on the floor using broom-like brushes, resulting in a cloudy depth of color. In our outstanding composition, the viewer is drawn into the green depth. Numerous stages of drying and a unique compositional sensibility, a crucial feature of Graubner's painting, are required to intensify the complexity of the individual color values into a “Color-Space-Bodies” of oscillating effect and unique aesthetic presence. To amplify the spatial impact of the colored surfaces, Graubner began stretching Perlon fabric over full-sized color cushions as early as the beginning of the 1960s. By soaking and painting the fabric cushions with several layers of diluted acrylic paint, Graubner created a floating, breathing compaction, like a color space stretching towards the viewer. In 1970, Graubner finally replaced the older work titles “Farbleib” and “Kissenbild” with the title “Farbraumkörper” (Color-Space-Body). These impressive painterly creations were first exhibited by the renowned Düsseldorf gallerist Alfred Schmela, one of the first gallerists to present the young “ZERO” artists in the 1960s and the first to present Gerhard Richter in a solo exhibition at his gallery in 1964. In 1968, Graubner exhibited his early “Cushion Pictures” at the documenta in Kassel. 1969, he was appointed professor at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. From the 1980s onwards, Graubner's large-format “Color-Space-Bodies” successfully continued the maximum dissolution of the boundaries of color, as our work impressively demonstrates. For the innovative aesthetics of his three-dimensional painting, Graubner's “Color-Space-Bodies” are considered the central work complex in the artist's oeuvre. [JS]
Condition report on request katalogisierung@kettererkunst.de
Gotthard Graubner 
