With his series Auctions, Frank Gerritz (*1964 in Bad Oldesloe) not only provides a biting commentary on the panorama of the art market but also addresses the way in which values are attributed to contemporary art today.
Covers of catalogues from major auction houses serve as his starting point and image carrier. The choice of motifs is not random but concentrates on the big names of the modern art scene, whose works are traded at top prices, and which are downright stylised as ‘brands’. His adaptations are overpaintings in which he leaves only small sections of the depicted works free and covers everything else with black paintstick, an oil and wax crayon, in his own strictly linear manner. In contrast to the smooth, four-colour background, the manually applied lines merge to form a haptic surface structure, whereby the motifs, mass-reproduced according to the contemporary demands of advertising and marketing, are transformed back into the uniqueness of a singular work of art. In addition, the motifs are given a new appeal: visualisation through concealment.
Like his entire œuvre, the works in the Auctions series are characterised by a unique blend of precision, geometry and visual intensity. Frank Gerritz is a sculptor – even beyond the classical, sculptural medium. The sculptural approach is also evident when he draws with paintstick on aluminium or with graphite pencils on paper, MDF panels or the wall. Through a striking reduction to geometric forms and clearly structured surfaces, he creates spaces of unimagined depth.
Frank Gerritz is one of the outstanding representatives of contemporary German art. His works can be found in numerous international private collections and museums, such as the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Weserburg in Bremen, the Kunstmuseum Den Haag (Netherlands), the Musée Tavet Delacour (France), the Fogg Art Museum (UK), the Collezione Panza di Biumo (Italy), the National Gallery of Art, the Menil Collection and the Brooklyn Museum (USA).
In our exhibition Auctions, named after the series of works, we are presenting a selection of works created since 2009.
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