I finally saw the remarkable Martin Kippenberger retrospective at MoMA yesterday, which is a must-see for anyone who doubts that the physical act of making objects holds meaning. “The career of the German artist Martin Kippenberger, who died in 1997 at 44, was a brief, bold, foot-to-the-floor episode of driving under the influence. What was he high on? Alcohol, ambition, disobedience, motion, compulsive sociability, history and art in its many forms. But art in its many forms was exactly what he made � specifically paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, prints, posters, books � all in madly prolific quantities. In every sense, he took up a lot of space, and he continues to in this first American retrospective, which spills out of top-floor galleries and down into the atrium. Not everything has equal punch. If messy and bad aren�t your thing, and pristine objects are, he�s not the artist for you. Yet in each work, the model he set for what an artist can be and do shines through.” (via NY Times, Holland Cotter)
Check out Tim Paul’s Museum Hours for a complete roundup of reviews.
�Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective,” curated by Ann Goldstein and Ann Temkin. Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY. Through May 11. Organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
