Young Selfportrait with cabbage. 1991.
Oil on burlap.
Signed, dated, titled and inscribed upper left on verso. 152 x 96,5 cm (59,8 x 37,9 in).

Fetting‘s early self portraits are characterized by light colors that put the artist in the foreground. In the 1990s, however, they became darker and the artist recessed to the background, as it is the case with this work. Behind a cabbage that occupies the foreground in strong colors and pastose duct, the artist‘s head seems to pass into the almost watercolored background. But yet, the work does not lose Fetting‘s presence, as the artist’s glance seems to pierce the observer and thus prompts an examination of artistic existence, the virtuosity and reality itself. [JG]