Sale: 524 / Post War / Contemporary Art II, Dec. 10. 2021 in Munich Lot 85


85
Rainer Fetting
und Luciano Castelli (1951). Bordell II, 1982.
Dispersion on canvas
Estimate:
€ 40,000 / $ 44,000
Sold:
€ 137,500 / $ 151,250

(incl. surcharge)
und Luciano Castelli (1951). Bordell II. 1982.
Dispersion on canvas.
284 x 400 cm (111.8 x 157.4 in).

• This is one of the main works in the series of the "Bordellbilder" (Brothel Pictures) a joint project by the two artist friends Luciano Castelli and Rainer Fetting.
• Monumental depiction of an erotic multi-figure orgy-like scene in a timeless expressive 1980s aesthetic with strong colors.
• Part of a German private collection for more than 20 years.
• In 1982 the work featured in the comprehensive exhibition of joint works from Rainer Fetting, Luciano Castelli and Salomé at the Musée d'Art Contemporain in Bordeaux
.

PROVENANCE: Private collection Rhineland (acquired in 2000).

EXHIBITION: Salomé, Luciano Castelli, Rainer Fetting (1979-1982), Musée d'art Contemporain de Bordeaux (CAPC), Bordeaux, January 31 - March 5, 1983, p. 35 (with full-page color illu.).

LITERATURE: Salomé, Luciano Castelli und Rainer Fetting. Bild Erotismen, Kunstforum, Zwischenbilanz I: Gemeinschaftsbilder, vol. 67, pp. 70 ff.
Matthias Liebel, Luciano Castelli: 30 Jahre Malerei. Das malerische Œuvre des Künstlers von seinen Anfängen bis Ende der 90er Jahre (dissertation), Bamberg 2004, pp. 20, 160, 165 and 186 ff. (with color illu.).
Rainer Fetting und Jan Hoet, Fetting, Cologne 2009, pp. 172, 176f. (with double-page illu.).
"Castelli's and my joint works also comprised gigantic pictures of Indians and the brothel pictures for which he did the women while I did the men. And than we pushed the envelope even further and painted cock-sucking scenes from porno mags and all that kind of stuff. Huge pictures! That went hand in hand with a lot of beer and pot when painting and was one hell of a fun. Later Jeff Koons had his breakthrough with similar drastic motifs. "
Rainer Fetting, in: Fetting, Cologne 2009, p. 172.

In 1977 Rainer Fetting, Helmut Middendorf, Salomé and Bernd Zimmer founded the collectively operated "Galerie am Moritzplatz" in the subculture art scene of the isolated city of Berlin. The group was joined by the Swiss artist Luciano Castelli a little later. From then on, the Berlin artists made a name for themselves as "Neue" or "Junge Wilde" and also as "Moritzboys": "We wanted to translate feeling, rhythm and spontaneity into color." (Quoted from: ex. cat. Rainer Fetting. Berlin, Berlinische Galerie, BERLIN 2011, p. 65). The joint creation as a liberation from the partially still prevailing traditional art concept, painting together, as well as making films and playing concerts was in line with the attitude and the esprit of the young painters at that time. Joint works seemed like a logical, completely natural consequence. They can be found in Rainer Fetting‘s and Luciano Castelli's oeuvre as early as in the late 1970s. For example, in 1980 Fetting created some monumental wall paintings for the music club "SO36" together with Helmut Middendorf and Bernd Zimmer, while Castelli worked with Salomé on, among others, large-sized diptychs such as "Rote Liebe" or "Seiltänzer" (1979). In the same year Castelli and Salomé also founded the punk band "Geile Tiere" (with Rainer Fetting on drums). In 1982 Luciano Castelli and Rainer Fetting finally teamed up and created the series of large-format "Brothel Pictures", of which the work offered here is a prime example.

The works by the "Moritzboys" testify to a preference for large formats and in the work offered here, Rainer Fetting and Luciano Castelli fill a monumental canvas with broad, expressive brushstrokes. They create an highly erotic scene inspired by pornographic magazines. Like the clearly aroused male nudes placed in the background, the viewer becomes a voyeur of the sexual acts of three couples in the foreground. Reminiscent of the multi-layered structure of a history painting, Fetting and Castelli let the rampant orgy take place on several image levels, its uninhibited energy is also reflected in the dynamics and expressiveness of the broad brushstrokes as well as in the blurred, rough contours. In a particularly characteristic way, the work conveys the essence of the figurative art of the New / Young and Wild Ones, which was so innovative at the time and which has not lost any of its boisterous, impulsive power, contemporary relevance or art-historical importance. [CH]



85
Rainer Fetting
und Luciano Castelli (1951). Bordell II, 1982.
Dispersion on canvas
Estimate:
€ 40,000 / $ 44,000
Sold:
€ 137,500 / $ 151,250

(incl. surcharge)