until Sunday May 06 2018

Museion - museo d'arte moderna e contemporanea di Bolzano
T : +39 0471 22 34 13
Via Dante 6
39100 Bolzano
Italy

The exhibition takes a fresh look at the work of Maria Lassnig (1919, Kappel am Krappfeld, AT – 2014, Vienna) and Martin Kippenberger (1953, Dortmund, D – 1997, Vienna, AT) revealing hitherto unexplored connections between these two illustrious artists.

Though they never met, and belonged to different generations, in an era dominated by abstract painting both chose to place the human body firmly at the centre of their work. Their art explores the human body as a tormented expression of the self and the world, and a fragmented, deconstructed entity that is a metaphor for social and psychological conflicts, as well as the theatrical, performative element – its propensity for slipping into different roles in way that is ironic, sometimes even tragic. These are the connections that emerge from more than sixty works spanning two decades – from the 1990s to the 2000s – including paintings, drawings, videos and installations. Several of the pieces have been shown only rarely, while others are being exhibited in Italy for the very first time.