A view of the exhibition 'Capitalist realism and another ilustrated stories' by German artist Sigmar Polke at Art Museum of Sao Paulo, Brazil. EPA/SEBASTIAO MOREIRA.
After organizing the special and prized exhibition German Contemporary Painting and inaugurating the international tour of Places, Strange and Quiet, a photo show by Wim Wenders, MASP creates and produces Sigmar Polke – Capitalist Realism and other illustrated histories, an exhibition with the complete series of graphic works (edition prints, 1963-2009) and other objects by the German visual artist, plus the series Day by Day (mixed media) which was a thrill in the 13th Art Biennial of São Paulo in 1975, when Polke received the first prize for painting.
In the first international exhibition of the German artist Sigmar Polke after his death in June, 2010, at the age of 69, MASP presents the complete series of graphic works (edition prints) created by this visual artist between 1963 and 2009. On the whole, more than 220 pieces lent by the collectionist Axel Ciesielski plus 25 works in mixed media of the series Day by Day, created by Polke for the International Art Biennial of São Paulo in 1975, which were lent for this exhibition by another private collection. After the show German Contemporary Painting and Places, Strange and Quiet, photos by Wim Wenders, both brought to São Paulo last year, the exhibition SIGMAR POLKE – Capitalist Realism and other illustrated histories makes MASP stand out in the international scene of the contemporary production. Curated by Tereza Arruda with the collaboration of Teixeira Coelho, this show may be seen from October 28 to January 29, 2012.
Considered one of the most significant creative forces of post-War Europe, Polke was born in 1941 in Silesia – a region incorporated by Eastern Germany in 1949 and today shared by Poland, Czech Republic and Germany. When 12 years old he moves, along with his family, to the then Western Germany and at 20 years-old he is accepted by the Art Academy of Düsseldorf. In 1963, he becomes known when organizing, with his classmates Gerhard Richter and Konrad Fischer (then Konrad Lueg), the performance and later the movement called Capitalist Realism, so named in order to make a satire of the Socialist Realism, the official aesthetic and artistic doctrine of the Soviet Union, and also to criticize the market-driven art world in Western capitalism.
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