ARtist Research: Jörg Immendorff

@saatchi MoMA 

[notes] From video:

Draws on canvas with charcoal. These canvases are huuuuge.

"agitator against conventionality in art, and an offensive critic of inflexible social norms."
Not sure if it's a section of a painting or if an underpainting, but does an underpainting in Burnt Sienna on bright ylelow. High key underpainting. (optical missing remains an issue with me).
"ultimately art finds it's culmination in the human dimension. " -- quote from him

Idea that art is BIGGER than people, intellectually greater than humans can comprehend. 

USES COLOR SYMBOLISM. 

central motto "The other one is me." "L'autre C'est Moi"

lifelong problem for the aritst " can painting be of use in a changing society, and if so, of what means?" Which in many ways is STILL something which is to be active field of. um. We'll call it discussion. in the arts today.

critic of the nationalistic perspective.

"painted a great number of didactic figures with texts full of agitational propaganda whose human figures were politically provocative." 

"Where do you stand, cultural creator. Which art form or kind of painting do you make? Something decorative, or works that actively involve themselves in societal or political discourse." question he poses to people

Text, political logos in the pictures. WANT pictures to communicate through literary content.

(Aside: isn't it odd how some people privilige the term Picture and others despise it. This seems to be somewhat geographical in nature.)

"practiced an expanded definition of art.... focused his view on divided germany and its past." 

"I cannot apply and fight for avant garde status, if i am not willing to carry the consequences. Advanced, excellent art always has something to do with describing the current state of things... but, to a large extent, it also describes a condition that lies in the future. Or it describes a condition far in the past that I pull forward. A condition that has been overlooked, and is worthwhile to have one more look at, because it conveys a lot of energy. It is worthwhile to work against forgetting the past."

was very against hte divided germany. "I was an absolute cultural outlaw." 

"paintings are hip, attacing the political status quo of the times."

Wasn't blind to the fact that the problems that both germanies' problems wouldn't just fade away after reunification; knew that hte conern was "Waht country would be created." 

"Viewed his process with a very critical, analytical eye. With Immindorf, love, emotionality, and critical thinking go hand in hand." 

Inspired by Dadaists. ♥

the cafe paintings feature his intellectual heroes. 

"he didn't reduce the level of social engagement but rather the richness and complexity of his artistic perspectives became braoder [re: later works]"

Art as Social Activisim.

also made scultures: monkey sculptures. "The immindorff monkey, a symbol of the artist as society's court jester." "In the best sense, immindorff is a great actor. Not an actor who wishes to simply perform a role, but rather one who knows precisely how unbelievably complex life is. And this is exactly what he always reacts directly to." 

"The artist functions for his role in society." "He always talks about thet hing, but he makes detours.. these detours are called 'art'"

Symbols in the work, many symbols. 

"Art is a true melting pot. I hope that we can reach something pre-emptive and enduring. Ask a colleague whether art as a preventive possibility can achieve something against stupidity and brutality. I'm convinced it can."

Eagles as a popular [and loaded] symbol for germany. "In this painting, Jorg Immendorff presents a divided Germany in turmoil. Adopting Shakespeare’s theatre as a post-Fascist arena, eagle-folk run en masse towards the future, while the few still clamouring to the past are trampled, bleeding, underfoot." Hello, my the beloved realm of animal symbolism. Colorful and wild too. 

ORdinarily perspective and spatial depiction systems need not apply. Lots of figures jumbled everywhere. Areas and objects which should create an intellectual dissonance and which are thusly symbols, most likely (since that kind of intellectual dissonance (what the fuck are the tulips so prominent for) is a common indicator of '!! this is a symbol', for better or for worse). Also rather appreciate the van-gogh wheat-field to depict the "richly fertile womb". 

This is also one of his paintings that have this weird sort of illuminated outlines/neon lights kind of effect. 

Hello color theory. 

Chaotic compositions broken down into multiple areas of activity. 

"Jörg Immendorff’s large canvases are often fraught with the imagery of a literal theatre of decadence. His stage-set compositions allude to the illusionary aspects of art, presenting a script of personal mythology that is often poignant, humorous, scathing and prophetic. 

Myth-making is at the core of Jorg Immendorff’s work. Political iconography, such as the German eagle, Soviet sickle and Socialist Worker’s fist, mix quite literally with his ever expanding cast of characters, including both politicians and artist friends. At the heart is a rewriting of history - both political and artistic - where personal positioning and moral reconciliation are at the forefront." (These quoted descriptions come from saatchi)

"Spanning three decades of immense political change in his native Germany, Jorg Immendorff’s work took a turn from the political to the personal in the late eighties. His many self-portraits depict a lonely creator, whose role as cultural antenna has been rendered suddenly obsolete. 

Society of Deficiency is a more gloomy scene: the artist in his studio/toxic wasteland, struggling to create, surrounded by repetitive symbols of Joseph Beuys’ hat and a primitive monument of himself."

One of the dangers of activism is that. Of note: rational areas of limited color; different style of drawing and rendering in each section of the canvas. TEXTURE.

Paintings as allegory-- directly relevant to my interests. Selective color but for the area that is lit by the lamp (presumably possibility/imagination); all parts of the picture in service to it's message. (something i must work on, since at present it is too easy to get bogged down in minutia which doesn't matter, like a table. how to tell when a table matters, how to tell what matters; how to reconcile the conflict between The Message/Meaning/Point and the formal elements.)

I'm especially fond of the marks on the floor. I wish this image were larger. 

Theatrical spaces figure prominently in his work (i have been told and also independantly considered putting htem forward in my own work)

"In an ode to Dadaist icon Marcel Duchamp, Jorg Immendorff paints an art hero’s Valhalla. In a living-room-cum-art studio-cum-club, he gives the illusion of theatrical space. Images within images, he builds an architecture through the placement of paintings throughout the room, confusing masterpiece with reality. 

Towards the back of the scene lies a brighter framed image: this is no ordinary lounge, but a private celebrity chamber of Café Deutschland. Figured with his favourite cigars and chessboard, and tuxedoed waiter bringing tipple, Duchamp accepts a light from the always hatted Joseph Beuys. 
Seeming to wallow in his own chain-smoking reclusiveness, Jorg Immendorff renders Duchamp as a rat-packish figure from another era. High class tinged with sadness, he cuts through with an energetic doodle of slapstick zaniness."