BERLIN.- Galerie Max Hetzler is presenting Malerei 1981–2022, a solo exhibition of Werner B黷tner’s work at Bleibtreustra遝 45 and 15/16 in Berlin. This is the artist's tenth solo exhibition with the gallery.

Absurdity, irony and ambivalence play a central role in Werner B黷tner's paintings, which gained recognition in the late 1970s under the term ‘Bad Painting’. Motifs of classical modernism are reworked, sometimes with the help of linguistic elements, and thus become unflinching commentaries on society and the broader condition humaine. ‘The generation before us – the conceptual artists – had declared painting as an outdated, bourgeois medium to be abolished. This prohibition had to be broken by us descendants, out of defiance, for distinction, and because the laws of generation demand it. And so, in juvenile presumption, I took hold of almost all known categories of painting – still lifes, self-portraits, animal pictures, seascapes, history painting, religious subjects, etc.’, the artist explains. 1

This exhibition comprises works from a creative period of over 40 years, offering an impressive insight into B黷tner's practice. The impasto painting, applied in rapid brushstrokes and alla prima (wet-on-wet), lends the works a coarseness that is further emphasised by the typical artist's frames made of wooden slats. Isolated splashes and streaks of paint, created by the explosive movements of the brush, reinforce the dynamism and power of the paintings. In the later works, this fast technique is replaced by a more precise painterly style, yielding images with a greater intellectual and visual subtlety. A block of drawings and a group of sculptures by the artist will also be shown at Bleibtreustra遝 15/16.

The works in the exhibition are diverse in their subjects, ranging from depictions of animals to images of objects, food and body parts. In D黶enj鋑er, Kind und Seevogel (Jet Fighter, Child and Seabird), 1981, the artist presents a seascape, while his painting Moderne Kunst I (Modern Art I), 1981, serves as a memento mori. The trenchant and often ironic titles play an essential role. Das war’s dann also (So That's It Then), 1998, depicts a reclining female nude as if secondary to the comic-like deer skin sprawled out at the forefront of the painting. The composition’s background is filled with red and white stripes reminiscent of the American flag. In Stalin, 1985, a rather atypical history painting, only the dictator's supposed boots are depicted. The communist symbols of the hammer and sickle reappear in the painting D黶terer Nachruf (Gloomy Obituary) from 2022. Open to interpretation, yet always one step removed from the rational, these works allow us to immerse ourselves in B黷tner's complex world of creation. Ultimately, despite their manifold allegorical interpretative possibilities, these images are primarily to be understood as an expression of an outlook on life: 'if it is a good picture, it always contains a non-rationalisable remnant. We should joyfully accept that’, the artist states. 2

Werner B黷tner (*1954, Jena, Germany) lives and works in Geesthacht, Germany. The artist has held a post as professor at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts since 1989. B黷tner’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions at institutions including the Hamburger Kunsthalle (2021); Zentrum f黵 Kunst and Medien, Karlsruhe (2013); Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, Osnabr點k (2006); Kunstverein Bremerhaven (2005); FRAC Poitou-Charentes, Angoul阭e (2004); L’Espace Sainte-Croix, Loudun (2004); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2003); St鋎tische Museen Romantikerhaus, Jena (1997); Kunstverein Hamburg (1995); Kunstmuseum, Reutlingen (1989); Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (1988); and Kunstverein M黱chen im Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, travelled to: Museum Folkwang, Essen (1987).

B黷tner’s works are in the collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris; FRAC Poitou-Charentes, Angoul阭e; Hamburger Kunsthalle; Kunstmuseum Walter im Glaspalast, Augsburg; Ludwig Forum, Aachen; Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna; Museum f黵 Kommunikation, Frankfurt am Main; Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg; St鋎el Museum, Frankfurt am Main; Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe; Zentrum f黵 Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe; Ulster Museum, Belfast; and Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, among others.

1 W. B黷tner, quoted in Zuweilen ist Ehrlichkeit die eleganteste Maske. Thomas Eller im Gespr鋍h mit Werner B黷tner, F黵th: Starfruit Publications, 2022, p. 36
2 W. B黷tner, quoted in Zuweilen ist Ehrlichkeit die eleganteste Maske. Thomas Eller im Gespr鋍h mit Werner B黷tner, F黵th: Starfruit Publications, 2022, p. 28