A test.mes nt to Polke’s aesthetic innovation and technical mastery, Untitled (Blue) from 1992 draws the viewer into a state of profound contemplation. Consisting of a series of photographs rendered in effervescent cobalt and azure, the present work epitomises Polke’s deft chemical manipulation of the qualities of light and colour. Indeed Polke’s cosmic eruptions or paranormal effusions are a striking paradigm of the artist’s distinctive renunciation of figuration in favour of abstraction.

Through his investigatory practice, Polke experimented with the photochemical effects of radioactive materials in order to obtain the universal equation between matter and energy. In the present work, the artist exposed photosensitive plates to large pieces of uranium for various lengths of t.mes . As such Untitled (Blue) centers around the undulating nature of light and the perceptive response of the human eye. The series of photographs further invite a mythological and astrophysical reading, that of Prometheus and Pandora; the fire of the gods and the resulting disaster. This unique duality of chemistry and cosmology results in an intrinsically abstract sense of scale, in which the energy captured could be read on a miniscule and microscopic cellular level, but equally as a catalogue of gaseous giants and calamitous astral impacts within our solar system.

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 (Blue) is imbued with a deep and mystic allure. As Mark Godfrey remarks:

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.

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 photographic 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 and astrological explorations.