{"id":24389,"date":"2024-04-13T14:29:55","date_gmt":"2024-04-13T13:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/?p=24389"},"modified":"2024-07-11T18:33:29","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T17:33:29","slug":"sausages-with-georg-baselitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/sausages-with-georg-baselitz\/","title":{"rendered":"Sausages with Georg Baselitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

The opening<\/span><\/span> evening<\/span><\/span> at White Cube paid tribute to Baselitz<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s gastronomic preferences<\/span><\/span>\u2014<\/span><\/span>sausages paired with sauerkraut and beer. Upon my arrival in Bermondsey, I <\/span><\/span>found<\/span><\/span> a crowd of people, their focus not on the gallery<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s entrance<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span> but rather on the beer taps and the tent where the grill was set up. I chose to delve into the art first.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Georg Baselitz Der Maler in seinem Bett usw. (The Painter in His Bed, etc.), 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The exhibition<\/span><\/span>, titled<\/span><\/span>\u00a0A Confession of My Sins<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span><\/em> showcases<\/span><\/span> the recent<\/span><\/span> works <\/span><\/span>of <\/span><\/span>the 86-year-old Baselitz<\/span><\/span>, who<\/span><\/span> has <\/span><\/span>revisited the imprints and visions of his youth alongside motifs central to his artistic <\/span><\/span>career<\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span>\u2018<\/span><\/span>After all, an artist always deals with his past,<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span> a sage of the art world once proclaimed<\/span><\/span>\u2014<\/span><\/span>perhaps Baselitz himself. The gallery<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s <\/span><\/span>first space <\/span><\/span>blooms with an array of large<\/span><\/span>-scale<\/span><\/span> canvases, <\/span><\/span>each bearing<\/span><\/span> his <\/span><\/span>signature upside-down figures<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>now set against a backdrop<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>of <\/span><\/span>buoyant <\/span><\/span>sky<\/span><\/span>. A closer examination reveals the \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/span>models<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span> in <\/span><\/span>exhibitionistic poses<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span> their limbs <\/span><\/span>overlaid<\/span><\/span> with nylon stockings<\/span><\/span>. <\/span><\/span>Sensuality is undoubtedly one of the recurring leitmotif<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span> in the German artist<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s body of work.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Georg Baselitz Marie-Therese in Dinard (Marie-Therese in Dinard), 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

S<\/span><\/span>ince the <\/span><\/span>start<\/span><\/span> of <\/span><\/span>the <\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/span>remix<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span> series<\/span><\/span> in the late 2000s<\/span><\/span>\u2014<\/span><\/span>reinterpretations of<\/span><\/span> his <\/span><\/span>earlier works<\/span><\/span>\u2014<\/span><\/span>Baselitz has seldom ventured into new imagery, instead preferring to probe the depths of the creative act itself. His paintings have always been diverse in style and execution, but the <\/span><\/span>ones <\/span><\/span>displayed at White Cube, with their erratic figural outlines<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>a medley of<\/span><\/span> artifacts and aggressive paint<\/span><\/span> application<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span>, seem <\/span><\/span>to <\/span><\/span>stand as a testament to Baselitz<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s belief in the primacy of visual perception<\/span><\/span>\u2014<\/span><\/span>elevating it above <\/span><\/span>subject<\/span><\/span>, detail, and form. While Baselitz<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s deviant narratives are often interpreted as provocati<\/span><\/span>ve<\/span><\/span>, it is far more pleasant <\/span><\/span>to <\/span><\/span>perceive them as a playful engagement with the viewer, introducing an obstacle to the process of severing the subjective in art contemplation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\u00a9 Il Gurn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Within<\/span><\/span> one of White Cube<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span> spaces, <\/span><\/span>canvases<\/span><\/span> are graced with<\/span><\/span> depictions of birds, deer, horses, transferred from <\/span><\/span>the artist<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span> childhood <\/span><\/span>sketches<\/span><\/span>. The neo-expressionist approach, with its roots in informal, <\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/span>brut\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>art, proves to be an apt conduit for these embryonic concepts. The large-scale paintings rhyme with the displayed drawings,<\/span><\/span> where red and black coalesce into distorted, discordant shapes. The near absence of narrative directs the observer<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s attention to the paper<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s texture and the potency of each hue, that is, the intrinsic qualities of drawing.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\u00a9 Il Gurn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And what of the beer? The queue for it meandered beyond the courtyard, snaking into the street. To pass the time, a neighbor engaged a passerby<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/span>\u2018<\/span><\/span>H<\/span><\/span>ave you been inside?<\/span><\/span> Is it nice<\/span><\/span>?<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span> As I held my place, the wait culminated not in the expected drink but in the unexpected arrival of Baselitz himself, who was promptly served a glass out of turn. He barely took a sip amidst the courtyard<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s crescendoing applause (<\/span><\/span>it<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>s <\/span><\/span>a challenging task <\/span><\/span>to clap <\/span><\/span>with a plate in hand).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The sausages and sauerkraut were <\/span><\/span>nice<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

White Cube<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

10 April \u2013 16 June 2024<\/em><\/p>\n

Location:<\/em>
\n144 \u2013 152 Bermondsey Street <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

London SE1 3TQ<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In one of my past conversations with theatre director Jan Ritsema, he posited that the epoch of grand artists had passed. Such a notion was challenging to accept, especially as names like Koons, Gursky, and Baselitz failed to impress him. My skepticism still strong as the White Cube gallery presents an impressive collection of Georg Baselitz\u2019s new creations, following the retrospectives of Marina Abramovich at the British Museum and Yoko Ono at Tate Modern. Perhaps Jan\u2019s assertion would be more aptly framed as a phase of ongoing transition rather than an absolute conclusion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":24390,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,144],"tags":[],"type_post":[],"column":[],"class_list":["post-24389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24389"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=24389"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=24389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}