GÜNTHER FÖRG

Förg’s artistic practice began in the early 1970s while still studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with the grey, or ‘Gitter’ paintings. These monochrome works were the beginning of his multifarious career which spanned over four decades; they served as the foundation of his fascination with modernism during a postmodern period.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Förg incorporated photography and sculpture into his practice through his architectural photographic works. During this period Förg broke away from the surface of the canvas and art object itself by expanding his work into the space that surrounded it. Cyclically, Förg returned to painting, starting with the Grid paintings (or ‘Gitterbilder’), at the beginning of the 21st Century. While the Grid and Window paintings conformed to Förg’s tendency for formal rigour and geometric abstraction, the Spot paintings indulged the gestural side of his practice: their expressive brushstrokes toying with surface by patchworking colour across the canvas.

Förg’s work is held in notable public and private collections across the world including MoMA, New York; François Pinault Foundation, Venice; Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin; Broad Contemporary Art Museum, Santa Monica; Tate Modern, London; SFMOMA, San Francisco; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Museum für Monderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Ludwig Museum, Cologne; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles; Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Cast­ello di Rivoli, Turin; and Kunstmuseum Basel.

Courtesy MASSIMODECARLO