A look at: Günther Förg

The artist Günther Förg: Short positioning

The position of an artist in the art world is the subject of the subject of art science. Certainly an object of longer employment if the value of a certain artist is to be positioned more precisely for the art world and the value of his work.

The question is whether this is necessary or whether the more precise classification of an artist should ultimately be reserved for the subjective feeling of the viewer.

The "Look at" presents artists in a brief overview, more a sketch than a scholarly treatise, more an appetizer for further study of an artist than an evaluation of their artistic work. In such a broad overview, no more than a brief classification of an artist is possible, but this is certainly also useful.

Today, information collected on the Internet makes it possible an artist's position in the art world , for example, information from an Internet platform that lists the world's artists according to exhibition success, processing enormous amounts of data and, if possible, all exhibitions in which the artist in question has ever appeared in the outside world.

Günther Förg (November 2015) is on 106th place on this “world rankings of art”

Number 106 in the world - even if the listing after exhibition successes is a constantly recalculated snapshot, it is obviously a very important modern artist.

Günther Förg has climbed by 10 places in the ranking since last year. B. John Cage, Salvador Dalí , Cy Twombly, Pierre Huyghe, Jonathan Meese , Pipilotti Rist, Markus Lüpertz , Max Beckmann , Bernd and Hilla Becher and Yves Klein.

Günther Förg has made a name for himself as a painter, sculptor and photographer ("artistic architectural photographer").

The focus of Günther Förg's art

Günther Förg began with grey; during his studies at the Munich Art Academy (and later on) he painted exclusively dark panel paintings in monochrome grey tones, which are said to inspired by the work of Cy Twombly (whom he has currently overtaken by a dozen places in the world art ).

Günther Förg's work will develop, in always surprising twists. Förg tries a wide variety of materials and media , canvas and paper, wood and stone, aluminum, lead and more. Until the completion of his studies and in the time afterwards, mainly paintings, paper work and photo works were created, from the late 1970s bronze sculptures and installative wall paintings.

In the paintings, the rapid and laconic color application its trademark, stripes, crosses and grids dominating image elements. The motif of the window becomes typical of its work, each of these "window pictures" symbolized a window to the world for Günther Förg.

Günther Förg was enthusiastic about the architecture of the modern 20th century. The occupation with their buildings-from the IG-Farben-Haus in Frankfurt am Main to the Bauhaus architecture in Israel and the buildings of modernity in Moscow-and with the designs of the Italian architecture of rationalism shaped all of his work and gave his photographic work the topic.

The large-format window and lattice images on paper or canvas have been characterizing his work since the 1990s, in accordance with the fascination with modern architecture: quick but precisely set brush strokes, clear areas, broken colors in which flicker effects and lighting moods appear- the geometric structure of the architecture can be found again and has an effect in the painting.

Günther Förg's art: examples

• Early detailed shots of modern architecture: "Villa Wittgenstein" , 1987
• An early example of the "window pictures" Günther Förgs is the artwork "without title" from 1991, acrylic on wood, 210 x 180 cm
• Günther Förg's “Tor und Stele” from 1994 is very actively approaching the architecture
• A late reminiscence to the gray phase, which also shows "window pictures" "Untitled" , 1996, Gouache on paper, 83 x 112.7 cm
• Another excursion to architecture, but in small format: "Installation view" from 2001
• One of Günther Förg's “window to the world” shows the following work: “Untitled” , 2004

Günther Förg's public work: exhibitions, art in public space and in public collections

Günther Förg's exhibition history is truly remarkable:

The presence of his works in exhibitions began in 1980 with his first solo exhibition, at the Munich gallery Rüdiger Schöttle . It continues to this day, with a significant increase in Förg's art in group exhibitions. Until shortly before the turn of the millennium, there were at most a dozen per year, and from 1999 onwards, there were already two dozen.

In 2006, the third dozen had been reached, and it remained that way for a long time, declining to “only” around 30 group exhibitions in the year of the artist’s death.

Between 1982 and today (2015) there were two years in which Günther Förg works could not be seen anywhere in the world in a solo exhibition. That was the years 1989 and 1994, but he was seen in 11 or 7 of his over 600 group exhibitions.

There were "only" around 200 solo exhibitions, including documenta IX and presentations in almost all major art centers around the world. Most of Günther Förg's exhibitions took place in Germany (around 350), followed by around 60 presentations in the USA and Austria, and around 50 exhibitions in Switzerland and Spain.

62 galleries represent Günther Förg or now make the heirs happy, works of art by Günther Förg today bring at least high five -digit prices.

Günther Förg's work can be seen in private and public collections and in public space:

The Deutsche Bank collection has collected over 900 works by Förg, numerous paper work and artistic photographs of modern architecture such as Villa Wittgenstein and the Cité Radieuse in Marseille (one of Le Corbusiers "Wohnmaschinen").

Public collections in 15 countries have and show works of art Günther Förgs:

• Argentina (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires Macba)
• Belgium (Museum of Contemporary Art Eupen, Stedelijk Museum Voor Actuele Art Ghent)
• Denmark (Arken Museum for Modern Art Ishoj)
• Germany (Architecture Galerie Berlin, Daimler Contemporary, Hamburger Bahnhof, Haubrok, Haubrok Collection Hoffmann, all in Berlin, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Art Collections Chemnitz, Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art Duisburg, Kunstpalais Erlangen, Museum of Modern Art, Städel Museum, both Frankfurt/Main, Center for Art and Media Technology Karlsruhe, Gallery for Contemporary art Leipzig, municipal gallery in the Lenbachhaus & Kunstbau Munich, art space Grässlin St. Georgen and others)
• France (Frac Picardie Amiens, Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Marseille, Musée d´Art Contemporain de Nîmes, UA)
• Canada (National Gallery of Canada, Musée des Beaux-Arts du Canada Ottawa)
• Italy (Collezione Maramotti Reggio Emilia, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Turin)
• Luxembourg (Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean Luxembourg)
• Netherlands (Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam)
• Austria (New Gallery Graz, Essl Museum Klosterneuburg)
• Switzerland (Basel Art Museum + Museum of Contemporary Art Basel, St.Gallen Art Museum, Photo Museum Winterthur)
• Spain (Museu d´Art Contemporani de Barcelona, ​​Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Madrid, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea Santiago de Compostela UA)
• Turkey (Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art Istanbul)
• USA (Moca Grand Avenue Los Angeles, Walker Art Center Minneapolis, Museum of Modern Art New York City, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art San Francisco UA)
• United Kingdom (Monsoon Art Collection, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, all in London)

"Gate and Stele" is in the center of Rotterdam, Doelstraat, Centrumruit:

Günther Förg also comes the neon relief that adorns the ceiling of the art hall café in the Museumpark Westzeedijk: www.kunsthal.nl/

In Neuchâtel, France, there is “L'horrible” from 2007:

How did Günther Förg get art?

Günther Förg studied art, from 1973 to 1979 in Munich at the Academy of Fine Arts.

The professor who influenced him the most was Karl Fred Dahmen. The artist, born in the Rhineland in 1917, worked with material pictures and object boxes and pursued goals similar to the "Nouveaux Réalistes" , the binding of art to life, including real (everyday) objects in art.

Förg's promotion began in 1984 with participation in the legendary exhibition "From here-two months new German art in Düsseldorf" in Hall 13 of the Messe Düsseldorf, a meeting of today's deeply impressive artist prominence- Georg Baselitz , Bernd and Hilla Becher , Joseph Beuys , Marcel Broodthaers, Hanne Darboven, Jörg Immendorff, Martin Kiefer, Martin, Martin, Martin Kippenberger, Imi Knoebel, Markus Lüpertz, the group Normal (Peter Angermann, Jan Knap, Milan Kunc), Albert Oehlen, Markus Oehlen, Nam June Paik , Ar Penck, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter , Dieter Roth , Ulrich Rückriem, Salomé, Thomas Schütte, Herman de Vries, Andy Warhol and Marina Abramović were just a few of the more than 70.

The fame of this exhibition led Günther Förg to the Documenta in Kassel in a rather direct way. After participating in Documenta in 1992, Förg's awareness and exhibition presence increased steadily, today he is unchallenged one of the most important German artists of the present.

Günther Förg as a public person: prices and awards, teaching activities

In 1996 Günther Förg was awarded the Wolfgang-Hahn Prize Cologne, in 2003 he received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon.

From 1992 to 1999 he taught in Karlsruhe at the University of Design, from 1999 he taught in Munich as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts.

The private Günther Förg

Günther Förg was born on December 5, 1952 in Füssen and died on December 5, 2013 in Freiburg im Breisgau, on his 61st birthday.

Günther Förg's private life was never the subject of intense media attention. Little is known about his private life other than the fact that he had a house in Arosa, Switzerland, and another in Freiburg, Germany, and that he married the artist Ika Huber in 1993.

Current access to Günther Förg

There are currently six exhibitions in which you can also view works by Günther Förg:

• The exhibition "Dal Prossimo Ottobre La Six Si Trasferirà Nella Nuova Sede di Piazza Piola" 5 in the Galleria Six in Milan runs until December 22, 2015
• The “Black Sun” exhibition runs in the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen until January 10, 2016
• The exhibition "Time Present - Photography From The Deutsche Bank Collection" will run until January 11, 2016 in the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo
• The exhibition “Photography: International - Video, Mixed Media” of the Daimler Art Collection in Stuttgart will run until January 31, 2016
• The “Contemporary Art From Germany” exhibition runs in the Museum of Art, a Harod, Israel until February 13, 2016
• The exhibition "Koelskulptur #8" in the sculpture park Cologne runs until June 01, 2017

There is no website for Günther Förg, but you can find a slideshow with almost 100 works by the artist on the website of the Bärbel Grässlin Gallery, galerie-graesslin.de/s .

In addition, the contribution of the Handelsblatt "Günther Förg -Devotion to Color" information about the price development and stability of the artist's works on the general art market.