Lacquer, sheet metal, box
21 x 13 x 6 cm
8.3 x 5.1 x 2.4 in
Unique
Martin Kippenberger’s works were part of documenta 9 in 1992, where he showed his work "Untitled. Latern for documenta 9" and again at documenta 10. In 1997, Martin Kippenberger, who had died shortly before the exhibition opened, exhibited the work "Metro-Net Sculpture: Portable Subway Entrance".
© Spike Art
Martin Kippenberger dealt with concepts of self-mythologization, ideology, and originality, challenging the notion of the all-superior artist, even though he himself was the central subject of many of his works. He always gave the clown and thereby turned his own life into a permanent work of art.
The short life of Martin Kippenberger, enfant terrible of the contemporary German art scene, was marked by an indissoluble tension between his self-destructive personality and his prodigious talent. Imaginative and feisty, his natural abilities as an artist and self-promoter cut a swath of energy and humor through the art world of the 1980s and 1990s. He pushed the limits of what was reasonable and never shied away from asking difficult questions, such as what it means to be an artist. In his total devotion to art, coupled with a deep-seated cynicism towards the art world, that makes Kippenberger's work so unique in art history, situated between pain and optimism, bitterness and poignancy, aggression and empathy.
