Joachim Grommek

In his geometrical, abstract works, Joachim Grommek (*1957 in Wolfsburg) often refers to art history and artists such as Kasimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, Blinky Palermo, and Robert Ryman. His paintings are characterized by the “notion of the authentic forgery” and the interplay of illusion and deception. The artist’s basic material is particle board, which he covers first with a white ground, after which he applies a layer of paint that resembles the texture of particle board. Next, he adds precisely painted layers of colored enamel to what is now a deceptively authentic particle board surface that so exactly resemble strips of adhesive tape that one thinks one could pull them right off. Thus, the painting’s own materiality becomes the object of painting. Grommek’s works requires that the viewer examine them very closely, since they question painting as a medium as well as the status of pictures in general as a sensuous medium of cognition.   Exhibition schedule: Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, March 20–September 18, 2011 | | Märkisches Museum Witten 16.9.–30.10.2011 | Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen January 14–April 9, 2012 | Galerie der Stadt Remscheid January 28–March 19, 2012 | Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich beginnning 2013 | Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin