KOLLER VIEW 2/23

3 Preview of the PostWar & Contemporary Art auction on 22 June 2023 Per Kirkeby: painting as a process over a very long period of time have created the earth and its landscapes.’ Kirkeby applies layer upon layer of paint, working it with a squeegee, leaving out sections, scratching and scoring into the paint layers, thus creating a moving surface. He is also a master of colour. Impressively, the artist creates an autumnal landscape as an abstract painting using his vibrant palette and his unique vision. Per Kirkeby’s art has often been influenced by person- al experiences and emotions, and it is possible that ‘Fram Herbst’ was created frommemories associated with autumn as a season of change and transition. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION POSTWAR & CONTEMPORARY Silke Stahlschmidt stahlschmidt@kollerauctions.com ONLINE CATALOGUES www.kollerauctions.com 1 P er Kirkeby (1938–2018). FramHerbst. 2005. Oil on canvas. 200 × 200 cm. Estimate: CHF 80 000/140 000 2 G ünther Förg (1952–2013). Untitled. 1999. Acrylic and lead on panel. 81 × 60 cm. Estimate: CHF 70 000/90 000 In the 1960s, Danish artist Per Kirkeby experimented with very different artistic techniques: he produced graphic works and shot 8-mm films, participated in happenings, explored the use of sculpture, and dis- covered painting for himself. His collaboration with Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik also began at that time. The present large-format work 'Fram Herbst' from 2005 (ill. 1) is exemplary of Kirkeby’s landscape paint- ing. He does not focus on the idyllic landscape or its depiction, but goes to a certain remove, analysing structures and space in order to reproduce these find- ings in an abstract representation of nature. Kirkeby is not concerned with a depiction of what we see: ‘The landscape doesn't interest me one bit. I don't paint landscapes that exist out there. Nor do I paint what in the banal sense are called inner landscapes. I paint a picture, and the process of getting a picture on its feet is in many ways reminiscent of the processes that 1 2 © Estate Günther Förg, Suisse / 2023, ProLitteris, Zurich