Skarstedt Fine Art is pleased to announce the opening of Martin Kippenberger’s The Raft of Medusa. The exhibit comprises a complete portfolio of fourteen lithographs from the final cycle of Kippenberger’s self-portraits in 1996 prior to his death only one year later.
Kippenberger’s viewing of Theodore Géricault’s painting The Raft of Medusa, during the exhibition Memento Metropolis in Copenhagen (1996), prompted the artist’s own studies of the Medusa motif. These self portraits are based on the classic 19th century story about the torturous fight for survival among the hundreds of shipwrecked from the French ship Médusa, which left for Africa in 1816. Posing in front of wife and photographer Elfie Semotan, the artist imitates the figurative compositions in Gericault’s painting to craft his own intensely studied version of misery, strife and suffering.
Martin Kippenberger has had one person shows at Tate Modern, England (2006); The Smart Museum and The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, IL (2000); National Gallery, Prague (1999). Martin Kippenberger’s work has also been exhibited in numerous group shows including “Carnegie International 1999/2000”, Carnegie Melon Museum of Art, PA (2002) and “Open Ends” Museum of Modern Art, New York (2000).
Kippenberger’s viewing of Theodore Géricault’s painting The Raft of Medusa, during the exhibition Memento Metropolis in Copenhagen (1996), prompted the artist’s own studies of the Medusa motif. These self portraits are based on the classic 19th century story about the torturous fight for survival among the hundreds of shipwrecked from the French ship Médusa, which left for Africa in 1816. Posing in front of wife and photographer Elfie Semotan, the artist imitates the figurative compositions in Gericault’s painting to craft his own intensely studied version of misery, strife and suffering.
Martin Kippenberger has had one person shows at Tate Modern, England (2006); The Smart Museum and The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, IL (2000); National Gallery, Prague (1999). Martin Kippenberger’s work has also been exhibited in numerous group shows including “Carnegie International 1999/2000”, Carnegie Melon Museum of Art, PA (2002) and “Open Ends” Museum of Modern Art, New York (2000).