ACHIM DUCHOW
1948-1993, GermanyKnown for his multi-faced relation with artistic practices, Achim Duchow always aimed towards an ironic representation. Whether political or socio-critical issues, all were processed through his art. On a meta-dimension, Achim Duchow’s artworks play with different structures made of mixed media and complementary colours that come together into one work. The visual and emotional irritation turn quickly into understanding Duchow’s message, which breaks artistic traditions to visualise various problems within a society. As a photographer, Duchow’s work focuses on a documentary approach. He preferred deeper researches and experiences, as seen in his Japan trip ‘In search of Japan’.
In the 1970’s Achim Duchow (1948–1993) was a student at the HbK art academy in Hamburg. Legendary exhibitions like the ones at the Westfälischen Kunstverein in Münster (1973), the Kunstverein Kiel (1975), the Biennale in Sao Paulo (1975) and the Kasseler Kunstverein (1977) show the very effective collaborations with institutions. In Willich, a small and creative town near Düsseldorf, where Duchow and Polke lived and worked temporarily, a productive atmosphere dominated amongst excessive parties and a provocative socio-critical irony. This sentiment of the late 1970’s is represented humorously in the artist’s experimental painting. Thus, pop and politics, caricatural figures and dizzy paintings are recurrent and merge into an arousing amalgam.
Text courtesy SETAREH.
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