A test.mes nt to Polke’s aesthetic innovation and technical mastery, Untitled from 1990 draws the viewer into a state of profound contemplation. Epitomising Polke’s deft manipulation of the qualities of light, colour and texture, the present work is evocative of cosmic eruptions or paranormal effusions; it is a striking paradigm of Polke’s distinctive renunciation of figuration in favour of abstraction.

Four years prior, Polke’s 1986 West German pavilion exhibition Athanor – a term for an alchemical kiln – exemplified the artist’s fascination with alchemy as a system of understanding nature beyond the confines of science, and indeed Untitled is imbued with a deep and mystic allure. Created through the brushing, pouring and scattering of paint onto patterned fabric, amorphous shapes emerge organically as though autonomous and independent from the sovereignty of the artist. As Mark Godfrey remarks: “Polke allowed materials to determine the process rather than the other way around, a strategy that can be seen as a means of removing subjectivity or the authorial power of the artist from the act of painting” (Mark Godfrey, ‘From Moderne Kunst to Entartete Kunst: Polke and Abstraction’, in: Exhibition Catalogue, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, (and travelling), Alibis: Sigmar Polke 1963-2010, 2014, p. 134).

As a vibrant yellow orb radiates from upper register of the picture plane, the jewel-like properties of pigment that resonate throughout Untitled captivate the viewer in an exhilarating visual experience; a complete enthrallment enhanced by the work’s myriad of marks and textures. Dominating the canvas is a painterly white silhouette, enveloped by black Pollock-esque drips and splashes that appear to disperse with delicate tendrils emanating like diaphanous veins. In a transfixing explosion of ethereal blues and greys, Polke deploys a hypnotic, speckled design as the background of his investigation; an intrinsically scientific motif reminiscent of biochemical reactions. Since his first fabric painting in 1964, the materials that Polke incorporates throughout his career signify their sociological and historical origin. Inexpensive textiles otherwise used for curtains, upholstery, and tablecloths, foreground the physical surface of the painting and in turn, undermine the traditional subject-background dichotomy. In doing so, a duality of serenity and chaos is deployed to create an overall effect that is as dynamic as it is mesmeric.

Throughout his ouevre, Polke’s interest in the taxonomies of Modern Art and the formal and theoretical dichotomies of abstraction and figuration remained paramount. In his 1968 works Modern Art and Constructivist, the artist initially manifested this investigation by appropriating and re-evaluating the abstract language delineated by titans of Modernism, such as Kazimir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky and Jackson Pollock, and later revisited the subject of abstraction in the 1980s and 90s. Whilst his early works are imbued with the humour and parody that defined his initial output, his later paintings are often considered the work of an innovative alchemist.

Polke’s long-standing interest in the reactionary qualities of chemicals was amplified during a trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea in 1980-81. Here, whilst examining the geology of Ayers Rock in northern Australia, Polke re-evaluated parameters of colour and materials within his ouevre. The artist explained: "I started thinking about colour and its treatment... how, for example, Hinduism explains and uses colour or how Australians use colour... Seeing how colours are made, out of what kind of materials..." (Sigmar Polke quoted in: ibid., p. 132).

Untitled exemplifies the manner in which Polke privileged ambiguity over claritys and accident over accuracy, producing works of astonishing diversity and versatility throughout his career and forging a painterly language that was utterly unique in its embrace of innovative artistic forms and ideas. With a magical intensity, the present work epitomises the chromatic profundity and gripping dynamism of Polke's alchemical explorations.