Sigmar Polke

The alchemist of painting. The magician’s apprentice. A wizard. The nicknames given to legendary German artist Sigmar Polke (1941-2010) speak volumes. His multifaceted oeuvre – paintings, graphic art, photographs, films and installations – defies easy categorisation. One thing all his works share, however, is the irrepressible drive to experiment that is so evident in his methods, materials and themes. 

Together with Gerhard Richter, Polke pioneered ‘capitalist realism’ in the 1960s as a satirical response to American pop art and the propaganda-as-art of socialist realism. Through art that was provocative at the time, such as realistic paintings of socks, sausages or plastic trays, Polke expressed criticism of consumer society, the world of glamour and capitalism. In his iconic ‘dot matrix’ paintings, he used paint to mimic printing techniques from popular media. By doing so, he prompted the viewer to reflect on the meaning of reproductions, the transformation of images and what is ‘real’ or ‘counterfeit’ in art.

In the decades that followed, Polke explored painting, photography and graphic art through revolutionary experimentation with materials. See Hermes Trismegistos I-IV. He used (or misused) textile supports, varnishes, resins, chemicals, toxic substances and even powdered meteorite, often with unpredictable results – an aspect he willingly embraced. Graphic misprints became opportunities; variations in the supports, layers of colour and handpainted details made every print unique. See Untitled (Griffelkunst), 1989. In the late 1980s, Polke discovered Xerox copy machines as a new way of reproducing and transforming imagery. 

Polke’s oeuvre demonstrates extensive historical and political awareness. His work is rife with themes such as war and power, along with political and social commentary, but always in combination with humour, irony and ambiguity. Polke drew from advertising, comic strips and popular culture – but also from older painting traditions. By combining, distorting and enlarging images, methods and sources of inspiration, deliberately corrupting them, he continuously revealed new and unexpected layers of meaning.