As younger generations of artists continue to revisit the formal vocabulary of modernism’s past, Förg’s art remains an important model: one unencumbered by the twin deadweights of irony and melancholy and filled with a serious and sustained (though never fully credulous) commitment to the twentieth century’s endlessly generative legacy” (Lloyd Wise, ‘Günther Förg: A Fragile Beauty’, Artforum, May 2018, online).

Vibrant and colourful, Untitled (2005) is a stunning work from Gunther Förg’s celebrated late oeuvre. Marking the artist’s departure from the density of his earlier Window and Grid Paintings, the present lyrical work examines the raw interaction between colour and form. Adorned by a flurry of overlapping brushstrokes contrasted against the white primer of the canvas, the work showcases Förg’s skilful use of colour. The nuanced and dynamic composition created with a bright palette of warm shades of yellow, orange, pink, red and purple also references Förg’s dialogue with Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism, as well as the central focus of his late practice – total abstraction.

The visually rich composition of the present work commands a sensual flair evocative of Mark Rothko’s colour fields and Cy Twombly’s expressive style. Indeed, Förg candidly borrowed the techniques of his predecessors and actively engaged the formal achievements of artists such as Piet Mondrian, Barnett Newman and Frank Stella in the development of his varied practice. The present canvas perfectly exemplifies his principal interest – the physical properties of the used medium. As Michael Neff recalled, in his late works ‘[…] spots became more and more abstract. He learned that they have a three-dimensional level on each spot. There are not just dots on a canvas. They are planned and precisely worked out on an empty field’ (Michael Neff in conversation with Florian Berktold, in: London, Hauser & Wirth, Three Paintings – Three Decades: Günther Förg, January 2019, online). Thus, epitomising Förg’s sophisticated yet effortless overlapping of colours, the present work represents the grand culmination of the artist’s examination of material and form.

A Cologne-scene contemporary of Albert Oehlen and Martin Kippenberger, Günther Förg experimented with painting, photography and sculpture over his long and successful career. His early oeuvre, developed at the Academy of Replica Handbags s in Munich, was rooted in formal investigations into grey monochrome compositions. This early focus created a natural foundation for the artist’s later experimentation with materiality and colour. In the early 80s Förg devoted his practice entirely to photography, creating a series of black and white images of politically important architectural landmarks. Towards the end of the decade Förg began working with new materials such as wood, copper, bronze and lead. The latter became the basis for the development of his acclaimed series of Lead Paintings in which the artist applied acrylic paint to the hard surface of metal panels thus generating stark contrast between the rough texture of the base and the smooth coat of colour. Looking further into the possibilities of these unusual materials, Förg also experimented with making large lead reliefs which tested the formal distinction between painting and sculpture. The artist returned to working on canvas by the early 2000s making a full circle to the early focus of his practice but this t.mes incorporating a lighter palette to create expressive series of abstract works. Förg’s new focus on abstract painting marks a final chapter of the four decades of his artistic experimentation, with works such as the present Untitled serving as the synthesis of his investigation in colour, composition and material.