PENCK by frissiras museum

A.R. PENCK A PRIVATE VIEW

Jurgen Schilling

ÌÏÕÓÅÉÏ ÖÑÕÓÉÑÁ ÓÕÃ×ÑÏÍÇ ÅÕÑÙÐÁÚÊÇ ÆÙÃÑÁÖÉÊÇ FRISSIRAS MUSEUM CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN PAINTING

007

ÄÉÁÑÊÅÉÁ ÅÊÈÅÓÇÓ | EXHIBITION 20 Óåðôåìâñßïõ - 4 Äåêåìâñßïõ 2005 | September 20 - December 4 2005

ÖÙÔÏÃÑÁÖÉÅÓ | PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS Berndt Borchardt, Berlin .. Jorg von Bruchhausen, Berlin Joachim Fliegner, Bremen .. Anette Kradisch, Nurnberg Jochen Littkemann, Berlin akg - images / Bruni Meya Klaus Morgenstern, Berlin. Courtesy Galerie Michael Schultz

ÅÕ×ÁÑÉÓÔÉÅÓ | ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .. Ôï Ìïõóåßï Öñõóßñá åêöñÜæåé èåñìÝò åõ÷áñéóôßåò óôïõò Dr. Georg êáé Ingrid Bockmann ãéá ôï äáíåéóìü ôùí Ýñãùí êáé ôçí ïõóéáóôéêÞ óõìâïëÞ ôïõò óôçí ðñáãìáôïðïßçóç áõôÞò ôçò Ýêèåóçò. .. The Frissiras Museum would like to thank Dr. Georg and Ingrid Bockmann for lending the works of their collection and for their contribution to the realization of the exhibition. www.frissirasmuseum.com

demagogic point of view"14. In addition to that, he presented the Ice Age as a symbol of an era, which is associated with the idea of simple and plausible methods but also with the struggle, hunting and the encounter with difficult situations, as a synonym in other words to the "Cold War". After 1964 with his Systembilder, the repertory of his symbolic language is further deciphered while at the same time it becomes more mature and simplified under the influence of theoretical texts for example the ones of the cybernetics Norbert Wiener and W. Ross Ashby. Quite early Penck developed an interest in the scientific problems, especially those of mathematics, theoretical physics and later cybernetics and information and system theory, the results of which he used in his writings and paintings. Fascinated by the real or apparent validity of the scientific forms he tried to construct an appropriate artistic method. By the means of the artist, he researched the position of the individual, the co-existence in a social context and visualized the relation between contrary operating systems, the conflict of which conditions the behaviour of the individual. "Even a few years ago, cybernetics was one of these high terms which for some meant something magical and for the science in GDR was synonymous with progress. No artist has included so many characteristics of cybernetics with such density in his work like Penck. Emphatic, sovereign, serious and witty, he led his art to science and calculation. Captivated by them, his thought worked its way through mythology and enlightenment"15. Penck elaborated creatively and wittily on the findings of science and he classified them as "Researching Images"16 in his artistic conception, through which he wanted to open up unnoticed till then "Potential Fields" (Moeglichkeitsfelder) and develop a carefully articulated, propagated personal mythology. Excluded from any information source that anywhere else would be taken for granted, since 1976 with his obvious success in the West he had been increasingly harassed by the secret services17, who did not hesitate to make use of intimidation, burglary and theft. Penck himself often expressed using metaphor their constant, nightmarish presence in the form of bloodthirsty bird-

people and their powerful claws. Under these circumstances he developed his iconography using an increasingly strict picture alphabet and grammar18. "Learning from the pictures of Stone Age, art should make something visible by using the simplest means at a minimum cost"19. Penck recognized that: "Signals direct behaviour. Information directs behaviour. Signals activate or stop motion, signals lead to stimulation, disposition, general tone, existence, development, vigor and decay directed by signals..."20 - "I plunge into myself and talk with the images within"21. With the term Standart - a coined term through the combination of the words Standard (rule, norm) and Standarte (banner) as well as the words Bestand (Existence) and Art (way, manner) - works like the Ich in 1970 or the Rotes Standardkreuz in 1969/70 hint, beyond subjective situations, at knowledge, problems and their solution which could be regarded as paradigms and aim at general validity; a utopian thought the failure of which was obvious to Penck years later due to the lack of participation. The idea, that freedom begins with the awareness and regulation of any compulsion which man is subject to22, made him seek fixed visual and written proposals in the sense of a socialist vision. Mathematical combinations and harmonized systems of images, codes which remind of scientific demonstrations, further stress the unbiased objectivity of the proposal. In his theoretical explanations Penck clarified steadfastly the general demand and the connection of his work with reality: "The term Standart defines a method for the production of informationproducts, which moves the production process into the field of the describable and thus, it is possible to set processes technically. "The methods as well as the product in its real and imaginary existence are characterized as Standart. The vagueness of the newly introduced term Standart allows in its development variations and specifications, which can only be realized during the development of the Standart production. […] The term Standart defines, first of all, a product that is produced aiming at the complete perception of its visual content of information by the brain, thus offering the possibility of

PENCK

027

A PRIVATE VIEW

Me _ Åãþ 1970, detail _ ëåðôïìÝñåéá

imitation. […] Standart has a clear function of creating ideas. The combination of a specific number of elements which are the result of an abstraction from reality or have been created abstractly from the start, facilitates the permutation of the feeling complexes. […] Each Standart can become object of imitation and reproduction. […] This is the real democracy of art, which allows above all the cancellation of the difference between professionals and amateurs. […] In Standarts it is possible to abandon conventions. […] A material is formed, the real definition of which can be substituted23. Next to deficient in information figures, like the recognizable as male Standart figures through the hint of a penis with spread-out

Inv-No.599

Red -Standart- cross _ Êüêêéíïò óôáõñüò -Standart- 1969-70, dispersion on plywood _ äéáóêüñðéóç óå êüíôñá ðëáêÝ, 125x121.5 cm

PENCK

053

A PRIVATE VIEW

Inv-No.600

Futura 1971-72, dispersion on textile _ äéáóêüñðéóç óå ýöáóìá, 285x285 cm

PENCK

055

A PRIVATE VIEW

Inv-No.727

Self-portrait _ Áõôïðñïóùðïãñáößá 1991, oil on canvas _ ëÜäé óå êáìâÜ, 160x130 cm

PENCK

097

A PRIVATE VIEW