Klaus Liebig

Michael Janssen Berlin presents the works of late German artist Klaus Liebig (1936—1996) that reflect two crucial decades of his artistic trajectory — the 1970s and 1990s. In his enigmatic paintings, Liebig incorporates elements of collage and employs nonlinear structures to construct complex visual narratives. Liebig‘s artistic process is underpinned by his collection of images and texts from literature, ethnography, psychology, mythology, and anthropology. Carefully organized into approximately 200 folders, these materials form the painter‘s personal encyclopedia, providing him with inspiration for both the thematic content and formal elements of his work.

Liebig, whose works are part of the MoMA collection, still remains relatively unknown to the international art community. European audiences may recognize Liebig‘s works from the successful group show titled “Let‘s Mix All Feelings Together,” which took place at major museums in Europe, including the Musée d‘Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and the Louisiana Museum at Humlebæk in Denmark, during the late 1970s. The exhibition brought together the works of four artists whose experimental creative practices were conceptually aligned with the aesthetics of American Pop Art and comics: Gianfranco Baruchello, Öyvind Fahlström, Erró, and Klaus Liebig. All four incorporated elements of appropriation and collage into their works, and employed fragmented imagery and nonlinear structures to construct complex visual narratives, reflecting the chaotic and interconnected nature of the modern world.