Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997, Germany) was a multi-disciplinarian artist whose work offered a bitter yet witty gaze on the world around him. Kippenberger understood the significance of the artist and his personal life on his body of work. He appropriated, took, borrowed, elaborated and made his world part of his art. Almost everything found its way into Kippenberger’s art – from the establishment of an art center on a Greek island to drawings on hotel stationary – yet he always preserved a special place for painting, a medium toward which he and his contemporaries felt a deep crisis. Kippenberger’s untimely death at the age of 44 brought a creative profusion to an abrupt end. Despite his success, only after his death did Kippenberger gain the recognition he sought during his lifetime. In 2003 his work was shown at the German pavilion at the Venice Biennial. A retrospective exhibition was held at Tate Modern in 2006.
Related exhibitions: The Towering Inferno, Prima Facie
Martin Kippenberger, New York zum Russisch Abbinden, 1985, Oil and silicone on canvas
Martin Kippenberger, Kleiner Verkehr, 1981 – 1982, Oil on canvas
Martin Kippenberger, Untitled (from the series the Egg-Paintings), 1996, Oil on canvas
Martin Kippenberger, Garota de Ipanema IV, 1986, Collage on canvas
Martin Kippenberger, Untitled, 1991, Watercolours on paper
Martin Kippenberger, Untitled, 1990, Coloured pencil on hotel stationary
Martin Kippenberger,Untitled (Hotel St. Gotthard, Zurich), 1995, Graphite on Hotel Stationary