ANSELM REYLE, Sonnenuntergang am Genfer See (Sunset

Sonnenuntergang am Genfer See (Sunset on Lake Geneva), 2005
Acrylic on canvas. 111 x 273 in. (283 x 695 cm). Signed and dated "Anselm Reyle 2005" on the reverse.

PROVENANCE Galerie Giti Nourbaksch, Berlin
EXHIBITED Kunsthalle Zürich, Ars Nova, January 21 - March 26, 2006
LITERATURE The Saatchi Gallery, ed., Germania: New Art From Germany, London, p. 120 (illustrated)

Having spun his career from the sediment of Postmodern ironists, Anselm Reyle has made his body of work by freely embracing kitsch and re-appropriating conventions of modern art. Reyle's work reflects this investigation into the nature of materials and the physical qualities of balance. The present lot exemplifies Reyle's highly regarded series of colored stripe paintings, referencing the works of Barnett Newman and Ellsworth Kelly. A dynamic arrangement of horizontal stripes of varying colors, gloss, and width, the present lot reflects both the electricity of the disco era and the gestural immediacy of the present. "Traditional artists would rather avoid using decorative items, but that's exactly what I wanted to do. To risk the danger of being decorative…. My work is more a mirror of society. My work isn't cynical, either. I just take things that fascinate me, especially when I know that they are deemed tasteless. I'm interested in riding the border of tastelessness. That's where I get my energy. I don't necessarily feel that there is something like good and bad taste…. I like to show what I discover, and that is how I develop my language," (Anselm Reyle in C. Mooney, "Anselm Reyle: The new king of kitsch?" ArtReview Magazine, December 2008).