The Armory Show 2023

ALBERS | KNOEBEL | RICHTER - Color, Abstraction & Series

Color, Abstraction & Series are the central aspects in the oeuvre of Josef ALBERS (1888-1976), Imi KNOEBEL (1940) and Gerhard RICHTER (1932).

JOSEF ALBERS is a central figure in color theory who visualized his inspiring observations on color through his legendary "Homage to the Square" series. He is a theorist who examines and describes color scientifically, and yet his non-objective works are wonderful occasions that celebrate color and appeal to the subconscious likewise.

IMI KNOEBEL will be at our booth with his "Anima Mundi" series. He has been exploring color, form and material for over 50 years now, tracing the essence of painting in the most radical way. He is guided by his intuition in search of the perfect color and the absolute image. He searches for something spiritual, the possibility of expressing a feeling or an experience through his works. He does not want to tell us anything with his paintings, but only to show us how they are. The sensation is the focus, which he seeks to express - similar to ALBERS‘ formal language - in geometric forms.

In addition to his abstract series of "War Cuts" or "Grün - Blau - Rot", the edition "Eis" is among the most varied works of GERHARD RICHTER. For the overall concept of this series, the abstract painting as well as the documentary content of the book - whose cover served as the painting surface and which photographically traces his 1972 trip to Greenland - stand in an inseparable connection. Intending on dissolving the dichotomy of concrete representation and abstraction, he uses nature to study structural forms and phenomena that can be transferred into his painting or at least become imaginable in it.

For this year’s THE ARMORY SHOW we will present these artists with high-caliber works entering into a creative dialogue, emphasizing their differences and similarities, and thus open up new perspectives on them. They will be accompanied by artists who are also known for their serial works, such as Bernd and Hilla BECHER or Alexej von JAWLENSKY.