Katharina Grosse

In this work Katharina Grosse utilizes various painting techniques simultaneously. The entire left side employs broad brushstrokes in opaque colors, which remain partly visible beneath dynamic forms. The background on the right of the painting has been left white, resulting in an optical division of the painting vertically, over which is a dense mesh of eruptive forms and colors, created through the use of stencils and spray paint. Around the edges of the silhouettes liquid paint has run down in vertical paths, creating another important compositional motif. The painting is a patchwork of differing moments in its own creation, which nevertheless remain simultaneously visible. It is almost impossible to tell which parts were created initially and which subsequently. The simultaneity of all the painting’s levels interrupts any traditional pictorial hierarchy of a less significant background and more important foreground.