Günther Förg (1952-2013)

Divided into unequal sections of teal and burnt orange, Untitled, 1993, is a magnificent example of Günther Förg’s celebrated alchemy. Characteristically manipulating the caustic reaction of acrylic on a lead ground, Förg experimented with patinas to create veils of transcendent colour. ‘I like very much the qualities of lead’, Förg professed, ‘the surface, the heaviness. Some of the paintings were completely painted, and you only experience the lead at the edges; this gives the painting a very heavy feeling - it gives the colour a different density and weight…I like to react on things, 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, https://www.david-ryan.co.uk/Gunther%20Forg.html). Rife with surface variations and contradictions that emerge as a result of the application of acrylic, Förg’s painting is a direct challenge to the conception of a flat pictorial plane. Indeed, tactility was of upmost importance to the artist, who believed in the ‘sensual’ quality of painting (G. Förg, quoted in D. Ryan, Talking Painting, Karlsruhe 1997). Untitled is undeniably physical, and Förg has created an incandescent surface of visceral colour.