Anselm Kiefer

Its been awhile since I posted the work of a visual artist and frankly, well, I'm all torn up over it. Well, I spoke with Vaughn this weekend and that reminded me of our old debates as to where the lines of expressionism should be drawn, and that in turn reminded me of the German chap who, in my mind at least, has saved painting from the dustbin of history. His name is Anselm Kiefer, and most of his work is aimed at critiquing warfare and German political culture, particularly the Nazi regime (and more particularly, the German general acquiescence to said regime at the time). His work is thick, covered, often, in found objects (tar, hay, etc.) and your just want to touch it, even as you're repelled by it - also, he has an explicit grounding in classical artwork, drawing many of his themes from European and Egyptian mythology. His two series that have moved me the most over time - his works on Icarus and his "monuments to the unknown artist(s)."

Okay, enough talking. I have put together a set of links here for you to help you get a good idea of the man's jonx. Dig:

Straight outta' the NYC we have three sites: MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art), the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art, my personal Mecca), and the Guggenheim.

The German National Gallery has only two Kiefer pieces (at least at the time I wrote this blog) on their site, but one of them is a really freaky sculpture. . . worth a glance.

The Broad Art Foundation has a great example of Kiefer's architectural style (Germany's Spirtual Heros).

As to the online museums, I recommend Artchive and WebMuseum - both have quite substantial Kiefer holdings.

Finally, well, Kiefer's more recent work, which is a bit lighter and oftentimes focused on China, is a bit harder to find. That said, the Museum of Fine Art, Houston has a really beautiful piece entitled Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom, where Kiefer is dealing with the legacy of Mao that is deteriorating as quickly as his statues.

Enjoy.