For the Armory Show 2021 Galerie Christian Lethert is pleased to present online a selection of historical and recent work of Imi Knoebel’s Mennige painting shapes on the occasion of the new presentation at the Dia Beacon New York.
The Mennigebild pictures are irregular polygons resulting from the fusion of rectangular shapes. Through this method of layering, Imi Knoebel has developed an exciting arsenal of forms. The title refers to the Mennige anti-rust paint the artist initially used for the monochrome surface of the large-format plywood panels; thus it was the first colour to enter his oeuvre. However, the work on show, “Mennigebild 31/54”, 1976/2021 was painted with ivory black. Mennigebilder were shown for the first time in 1981 at the Dia Art Foundation in Cologne, and since 1982, eight pictures and two sculptures are in the possession of the foundation.
With his “Betoni” 1990 – polygonal, differently coloured, partly cut and polished concrete castings hanging on the wall in relief – Imi Knoebel also experiments with industrially manufactured materials and an inexhaustible geometric play of forms.
The new edition “1000 Hasen”, 2021 is also part of the presentation. The rabbit, originally a found object made of sheet iron, is part of Imi Knoebel’s work complex “Eigentum Himmelreich”, dedicated to his friend Imi Giese, from 1983. The edition “1000 Hasen”, 2021 is made of sheet copper in water jet technique and hangs on a nail made of steel.
Imi Knoebel, born in 1940 in Dessau, studied at the Werkkunstschule Darmstadt before joining the class of Joseph Beuys at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1964. He has participated at the documenta several times and his works are exhibited in museums worldwide: including 2021 at Dia Beacon, New York, 2018 at Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, 2017 at Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, Wuppertal, 2016 at Musée National Fernand Léger, Biot, France. In 2006, Imi Knoebel received an honorary doctorate from the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany; in 2011, he was awarded the Kythera Prize, and in 2016, he was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Armory Online | September 9-14, 2021 | https://www.armoryonline.com
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Photo credit: Ann Christine Freuwörth
