Jörg IMMENDORFF: The Works from 1972 - 2005

During the last one and a half years, ARARIO has been focusing its attention to the exhibitions like Thomas Ruff, Sigmar Polke, Cold Hearts: Artists from Leipzig, and Dr. Socrates: Jonathan Meese which revealed the various tendencies of German contemporary art scenes. Preparing the solo-exhibition of Jörg IMMENDORFF, it also became our big challenge to represent for the first time in Korea a vast range of works of a complex artist who made a mark in the development of German contemporary art.

IMMENDORFF was born in Bleckede(Germany) in 1945, the year when World War Ⅱ ended. There have been constant political, economical, and social changes in Germany since the territorial division of East and West Germany after the war, and Immendorff has witnessed the history of this period since his birth. He believed it as a social duty as an artist to reform the German contemporary history and the life and mentality of Germans after the World War through his works.

The most fundamental problem for him is why he is making something. His works could not help being political because he lived in a period when political problems were major issues. IMMENDORFF says, “What’s the reason I paint? What is the purpose of the work I carry out every day? Only be seriously asking ourselves why we are doing what we are doing can we make more meaningful paintings”

In the 1960s when he was a student, Immendorff was influenced by Joseph Beuys and made a lot of performances under the name of “LIDL”. He started making paintings more seriously from 1970s and his early paintings were composed of images and texts which seemed like political posters about art and politics until the mid 70s. While the works of the 1970s and 1980s were mainly about politics, the works from the late 1980s with the German Unification shows more personal aspects. From the 1990s works become a mixture of personal, political, and pure aesthetical elements. Immendorff was diagnosed with Lue Gehrig’s disease in 1998, which resulted in a disorder of his left hand. He started to paint with his right

hand and as a result, detailed depictions became impossible. His paintings after the end of 90s have used simpler images with focus on much deeper symbolism and philosophy.This exhibition is composed of 30 paintings and 10 sculptures from 1972 to 2005 by Immendorff and the show will travel from ARARIO, Korea to ARARIO BEIJING in China. It is a great honor for us to show the works of a living artist's entire life and we want to express our gratitude to IMMENDORFF for giving us this opportunity and we hope this exhibition could influence lots of people in Asia.