Günther Förg (1952-2013)

Painted in 1991, Untitled is a resplendent example of Günther Förg’s magisterial lead paintings, the hallmark series of his practice which he began in the early 1980s. The work is divided into two unequal yet balanced fields: a thin ribbon of pale pink next to a larger field of teal. With its vertical orientation, the abstract painting conjures a window, a portal to an unknown land. Förg chose to apply his pigments to a leaded surface, and the caustic ground produced mercurial and spectacular reactions of chromatic brilliance. Using lead, the artist explained, gave ‘the colour a different density and weight... with the normal canvas you often have to kill the ground, give it something to react against. With the metals you already have something - its scratches, scrapes’ (G. Förg, quoted in D. Ryan, Talking Painting, Karlsruhe 1997). Oxidised naturally by the elements, the lead generates its own abstract depths, dappled with iridescent patterns that operate in mesmeric counterpoint to the rigid strips of paint; the lustrous field of Untitled vibrates with energy. By recuperating the volatility of chance, Förg’s painting coveys a powerful physicality rooted directly in chemical combustion. Teeming with a raw, elemental power, the present work speaks directly to this cause.