'Everyone is an artist' - Joseph Beuy's
'Every artist is a human being' - Martin Kippenberger's ironic version.
Kippenberger
made hundreds of drawings on hotel stationery, a body of work that comes across
as a kind of travel diary. Although he often lived in hotels for weeks or even
months, he didn’t stay at all the hotels whose notepaper he used, often picking
it up from other sources. The stationery became, like so many things he encountered,
a readymade material for his art.
While drawings and sketches usually enable artists to explore ideas or prepare
for a larger painting or sculpture, many of Kippenberger’s drawings have a
compulsive quality, giving the impression that they were made by a dreamer
or doodler who plans and schemes yet fails to complete a project. In fact,
he often made these sketches after or in the middle of a painting, sculpture
or larger project, and each work is both a standalone artwork and a fragment
or extension of an ongoing narrative. The drawings form part of Kippenberger’s
strategy to create a seamless, ongoing integration of his life and work.
There are four groups of drawings in this room, three
on hotel stationery, and each group relates directly to one of the
artist’s projects. One group of drawings, which often feature a
large grill or vent, relate to METRO-Net, a fictitious
subway system for which Kippenberger built entrances, exits and
ventilation shafts in the Yukon, Leipzig and a field on the Greek
island Syros. The second set relate specifically to The Happy
End of Franz Kafka's ‘Amerika’ (1994), a large installation
displayed in Room 7 of this exhibition. The third set are from an
exhibition called Über das Über, and contain many common
Kippenberger motifs and themes, such as lamps, kitsch, erotica,
and food (especially his favourite dish, noodles). The watercolours,
painted by Kippenbeger’s assistant, depict the covers of Kippenberger’s
books – many of which are displayed in Room 2 – accompanied by a
bibliophile’s magnifying glass, a reference to works by Marcel Broodthaers
that used the same motif.
Untitled 1994 Private Collection
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