Bare Wunder: Sigmar Polke - 100 Years of Mediumistic and Phantasmagorical Photography
Group show curated by Veit Loers

Mar 26th – May 2nd, 2015
Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf

Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; © Gerhard Richter 2015; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; © Gerhard Richter 2015; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
30 x 40 cm
Copyright The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
24 x 30 cm
Copyright The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
8,5 x 10,8 cm
Copyright The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
60 x 50 cm
Copyright The Estate of Sigmar Polke, Cologne
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Acrylic on photograph
20 x 30 cm
26 x 36 cm (framed)
Copyright the artist; Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf
Acrylic on photograph
20 x 30 cm
26 x 36 cm (framed)
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf
Copyright Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Photo Achim Kukulies, Düsseldorf

Sies + Höke is delighted to present 'Bare Wunder', a group show that focuses on the various phases of Sigmar Polke's creative photographic oeuvre which is heavily affected by irony and mysticism. On the one hand, the exhibition aims to establish a connection between Polke's artistic influencers and the so-called 'ghost-photography', on the other it wants to relate Polke's work to associate artists and photographers as well as potential contemporary successors. Alongside Polke's photographies, the exhibition features other works from artists such as Anna & Bernhard Blume, John Bock, Brassaï, Johannes Brus, Tony Cragg, Walter Dahn, Louis Darget, Daniel Egg, Fischli/Weiss, Martin Kippenberger, Jürgen Klauke, Jochen Lempert, Peyman Rahimi, Man Ray, Gerhard Richter, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Gregor Schneider, Albert von SchrenckNotzing, Thomas Schütte, Ted Serios, Anton Stankowski, Otto Steinert, Miroslav Tichý, Type 42 (Anonymous), WOLS, Francesca Woodman, Thomas Zipp and many others.

In the middle of the 60s Polke discovered the medium of photography. His early works from the mid ́60s were concerned with immediate subjects found in the everyday world. Focusing on the exaggerated display of everyday objects, Polke challenged the authenticity of photographs. His works from the 70s heavily criticised notions of reality; he explored questions of authenticity, imitation and authorship through manipulations and the stylistic use of multiple exposures and overexposes. The darkroom became his laboratory in which he experimented with the mutable chemical consistency of the developer liquids and thus manipulated the development process. Polke disregarded standardised procedures and rules of chemistry that determine the length of time a print is to remain in a chemical bath as well as the consistence of the developer fluid in those baths. By creating experimental distortions in his images, he undermined the photographs' alleged fidelity to reality and covered his works under a veil of mysticism.

The exhibition intends to capture Polke's painterly approach to photography and to emphasise the radiant energy that his works have on contemporary generations of artists.

Artists

  • Albert von Schrenk-Notzing
  • Alexander Rodchenko
  • André Gelpke
  • Anna & Bernhard Blume
  • Anonymous (Adrien Guébhard zgs.)
  • Anonymous (Czech)
  • Anton Stankowski
  • Bernhard Johannes Blume
  • Chargesheimer
  • Brassaï
  • Daniel Egg
  • Erwin Blumenfeld
  • Francesca Woodman
  • Georg A. Eisenmann
  • Gerhard Richter
  • Heinz Hajek-Halke
  • James Green + James H. Gardiner
  • International New Photos (Anonymous)
  • Jindrich Styrsky
  • João Maria Gusmão
  • Pedro Paiva
  • Jochen Lempert
  • Johannes Brus
  • John Bock
  • Jonathan Meese
  • Jürgen Klauke
  • Kris Martin
  • Louis Darget
  • Man Ray
  • Martin Kippenberger
  • Miroslav Tichý
  • Mount Wilson Observatory California (Anonymous)
  • Otto Steinert
  • Peter und David Fischli/Weiss
  • Peyman Rahimi
  • Sigmar Polke
  • Talia Chetrit
  • Ted Serios
  • Thomas Schütte
  • Thomas Zipp
  • Tony Cragg
  • Type 42 (Anonymous)
  • US Army Air Corps
  • Václav Zygmund
  • Walter Dahn
  • Werner Rohde
  • WOLS

Artworks

Related Publication

Previous Exhibition