Sale: 530 / Evening Sale / The Hermann Gerlinger Collection, June 10. 2022 in Munich Lot 46


46
Norbert Bisky
Catastroika, 2012.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 50,000 / $ 54,500
Sold:
€ 137,500 / $ 149,875

(incl. surcharge)
Catastroika. 2012.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, twice dated and titled on the reverse. 200 x 140 cm (78.7 x 55.1 in).

• Bright and radiant work in the artist's characteristic pictorial language.
• Symbiosis of a contemporary imagery, current socio-political topics and historical
heroic saga.
• Works from the artist are in possession of many important international museums, among them the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne
.

PROVENANCE: Galerie Templon, Paris (with the gallery label on the reverse).
Private collection Southern Germany (acquired from the above in 2012).

With his powerful, expressive works, Norbert Bisky is considered one of the most important painters of postmodern figuration today (Handelsblatt Magazin 04/2019). As early as in 2014, the Kunsthalle Rostock honored him with a comprehensive exhibition of his first fifteen years of work. In 2021/2022, the artist's works were shown in the large-scale solo exhibition "Norbert Bisky. Disinfotainment" at the G2 Kunsthalle in Leipzig.

The Leipzig artist grew up in the GDR, studied at the Freie Kunstschule in Berlin and at the Hochschule der Künste as a master student of Georg Baselitz. The artist's biography is closely linked to his artistic work. "I started painting because I developed a deep distrust of words. The most decisive experiences for me were the collapse of the GDR, the Fall of the Wall and the reunification. I was 19 years old. A lot of the spoken rubbish that surrounded me as a child was ultimately worthless. What has more substance and validity over a longer period of time? I quickly got to the pictures." (Norbert Bisky, 2011, in: Weltkunst 01/2011). The artist's father is the German cultural scientist and politician Lothar Bisky (1941-2013), who was a member of the state parliament of Brandenburg, as well as of the German Bundestag and the European Parliament for the parties PDS and 'Die Linke', respectively. In this light it is little surprising that Norbert Bisky is also interested and involved in politics. "I can't ignore the political situation," says the artist in an interview with Deutschlandradio (interview with Sigrid Brinkmann, quoted from: Deutschlandfunk Kultur online, March 24, 2015).

Looking at his works reveals Bisky's occupation of Socialist Realism and the heroic images of propaganda art, but also with the works of the Old Masters in European art history: "There [..] has always been a connection to art history. I used to convey these scenes visually in a different way - in light, pastel tones. But I increasingkly got the feeling that this was in the way of seeing the content, and at some point I was done with these types of pictures. Then I took other colors and increased the contrasts in my work" (Norbert Bisky, quoted from: Michael Wuerges, In the Studio. Norbert Bisky, Berlin, collectorsagenda.com). Bisky also lets "Catastroika" shine in bright, clear, but also somewhat darker, higher-contrast colors. At that time, the change in the color palette was accompanied by a further thematic development. In his later works, the artist devoted himself to rather gloomy, depressing current themes, processed with energetic, sometimes aggressive imagery, e.g. the 2010 Love Parade tragedy or the 2015 refugee crisis, deals with homosexuality, pornography and fictional apocalyptic scenarios. The actions in his work "Catastroika" also seem like a still from a cinematic end time scenario. The title is probably a reference to the very successful Greek documentary film of the same name by Aris Chatzistefanou and Katerina Kitidi, which was released in the year the painting was made and which critically deals with the economic and social consequences of the privatization of state property and deregulation in the USA and in several European countries.

Here, Bisky creates an energetically charged scene with armed, rebellious male youths staged in spite of their casual, fashionable clothing with sweatpants and high-top sneakers like the protagonists of a historical battle in front of a burning background, but without idealizing any questionable heroism. Despite the wealth of art-historical references, Bisky creates deeply contemporary images that, like the work offered here, are characterized by a remarkably timeless political and social topicality and an absolutely modern visual language, which will guarantee their prime position in contemporary art for many years to come. [CH]



46
Norbert Bisky
Catastroika, 2012.
Oil on canvas
Estimate:
€ 50,000 / $ 54,500
Sold:
€ 137,500 / $ 149,875

(incl. surcharge)