Oil on canvas

120 × 100 cm. 471/4 × 393/8 in.

Signed in English on upper right
EXHIBITED
1 Dec 2017 – 26 Jan 2018, A. R. Penck, Sansiao Gallery, Tokyo

PROVENANCE
Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne
Important Private Collection, Asia

Note: This work is attached with a label from Cologne Galerie Michael Werner on the reverse

Scream from the Soul
First Work at an Asian Art Auction by German New Expressionist Master A. R. Penck
“My works are analytical things, offering an analysis of systems, people, relationships between people, conflicts and economics etc. My works are a combination of style. Method, form, drama amd poetry.”
― A.R.Penck
Post-war German expressionist pioneers A. R. Penck, Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorf and Markus Lüpertz worked at the same time and were known collectively as the four talents of German expressionism. They challenged established practices through abstract visual experience, seeking to reawaken a long forgotten ancient spirit from the rubble of post-war Germany.
The Legend of A. R. Penck: A Bottomless Reserve
As a young boy, Penck saw with his own eyes the destruction of his hometown of Dresden, families torn apart, and floods of destitute displaced persons. Such painful memories made him determined to explore the human spirit and predicted the extraordinary artistic path he would take. Penck worked as a boiler fireman, newspaper deliverer and night watchman, but it was in abstract art that he found himself. Finally, he could focus on making a living and searching for a way to communicate with the world as an “art renegade.” After World War II, the artist adopted the pseudonym “A. R. Penck” to replace his given name Ralf Winkler as a form of self protection, stubbornly using his art to search for an identity that did not exist. He also created the idea of “Standart” which combined politics, science and philosophy, pointing to the existence of increasingly standardized art work to awaken people to the fact that humankind was losing the “self consciousness” and “ethical spirit” of antiquity, assailing the direct view of the soul that was a leading trend in the 1970s.
In the 1980s, Penck researched semiotics and embraced them in his work, while using his knowledge of abstract language to found German new expressionism. He also made a big splash at the Kassel Documenta and Venice Bienialle, where he conveyed the terror and disassociated psychological experience of the Cold War era, displaying the power of silence and thought.
Standart Semiotics: Solidification of the Soul
In the late 1960s, Penck developed his “Standart” theory -- an aspiration to bring together philosophy, science and politics through art that represented the core focus of his creative work. In 1970, Penck became the representative artist for Galerie Michael Werner in Cologne, a cradle for the cultivation of German expressionist artists such as Joseph Beuys, Sigmar Polke, Georg Baselitz etc. In the same year, he held a solo exhibition there titled “First work with standard,” the first public showing of painting semiotics and schema that including the artist’s “Standard” system and became his best known and most classical art logo.
This spring, China Guardian Hong Kong will auction Das Jahr ’89-Standart, completed in 1991 and the first painting by A. R. Penck to be auctioned in Asia. The work is an extension of the eponymous “Das Jahr ’89-Standart” solo exhibition series shown at the Galerie Michael Werner in Cologne in March 1990. It also represents the perfect conclusion to that series through the artist’s classic personal Standart semiotics. In the painting, Penck’s iconic Standart semiotic figure takes up the center, showcasing a simpler style than the 1970s and 1980s. The four limbs point upwards and the arrow at the side alludes to its elevation. Below is an ellipse circle that appears to be a hole, through which the figure could fall into a plane of absolute isolation, an allusion to the way in which artists exist detached from the world. The bright red color is particularly prominent against the dark purple background, highlighting Penck’s consistent standard for the use of color. The artist uses abstract semiotics to ensure the visual participation of viewers and guided by the schemata which are replete with power, opposition and forward motion, they become immersed in the process of actively changing society. In Plenck’s paintings, abstract semiotics are transformed into signs that seek to awaken people’s souls.
1989 and Changing History
If we review the art of A.R Penck in its entirety, Das Jahr ’89-Standart is the only series that focuses on a specific year. That is because 1989 was a particularly notable year not only personally but the whole world. In 1988, Penck became a professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in West Germany, which marked the beginning of his 15 year career in teaching. As a teacher his life and creative environment became much more stable and as a result newer works were infused with a greater sense of maturity. For example, in Das Jahr ’89-Standart the brushstrokes on the red lines are thicker and more powerful than in earlier pieces, creating a figure that appears resolute. The background brushwork is also imbued with strength, creating a painting texture defined by existential charm.
1989 was also a year that changed the world. On November 11, the government of East Germany announced that its citizens would henceforth be permitted to apply to visit West Germany and West Berlin. This marked the fall of the Berlin Wall, an important symbol of the post war division of Germany and the Cold War, bringing to an end the 35 year long division of Germany and its people. After many years of railing, Penck welcomed this most longed for freedom. The extraordinary red lines in Das Jahr ’89-Standart are like volcanic larva coagulating in the picture, transforming the circles, arrowhead, T-shape, dots and sun semiotics into a surging natural force and an allusion to “the desire for a new life” on the verge of eruption.
The abstract works of Penck are permeated with rational self consciousness. In “Standart” resistance is the standard, breaking up the landscape from within. Perhaps he does not belong to any expressionist school and as Hegel said: “I am me, my target and essence are also me.” Indeed, by hiding himself in abstract creation Penck uses semiotic images to construct reality and through the desire to destroy creates life anew.

Price estimate:
HKD: 500,000 - 800,000
USD: 64,100 - 102,600

Auction Result:
HKD: 590,000