Siegfried Anzinger

Siegfried Anzinger (b. 1953, Austria) was a co-founder of the "New Wild" in the 1980s – an era where painting, declared dead by the conceptual art establishment, returned passionate and anarchic. This moment seems largely forgotten in recent art history. Therefore, we are delighted to draw attention to an influential painterly position 36 years after Anzinger's last exhibition in New York City at Holly Solomon in 1984.

The subjects in Anzinger's paintings appear as a comment upon classical themes and can be critical, political, ironic or humorous, and inspire questions. The intermediate position is significant to Anzinger's work, a place between traditional picture scheme and modern doubts on the validity of previous methodologies. Instantly recognizable motifs pave an approach to painterly queries: the development of space, the appearance of color and brushstroke, and how the entire composition is realized. Anzinger's open-ended, reverse practice was discussed in an interview with Max Hollein, Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City):

"When the viewers think they are on familiar ground, they slowly lose that certainty, not the other way around. Many artists destabilize the viewers and ultimately the viewers are getting more and more secure and know what they have in front of them, and then it's all said and seen and done with. I would like to depart from clarity and reach a stage of dissolution, where you don't really know what's what in the end."

Anzinger has held several notable national and international exhibitions, such as participation in Documenta 7 (1982) and representing the Austrian pavilion at the Biennale in Venice 1988. Anzinger was awarded the Oskar Kokoschka Prize in 1988 and the Grand Austrian State Prize for Visual Arts in 2003. His work is in the collections of the MoMA (New York City), Kolumba Museum (Cologne, DE), Belvedere (Vienna, AUS) and numerous other institutions. His influence extends to a young generation of artists as well. Due not only to his painting professorship at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (since 1998), but because he is more of a support system than a teacher. Anzinger stands for the freedom of expression in art. Until today, he continues his search for new solutions in painting.

This exhibition is supported by Wallplay and On Canal.