Lower East

Sigmar Polke

We had the chance to visit the exhibition “Sigmar Polke – The Editions“ at me Collectors Room in Berlin recently. Polke, one of the most important contemporary German artists, experimented with a wide range of styles, subject matters and materials. In periods he concentrated on photography, then returning to paint, where he produced abstract works created by chance through chemical reactions between paint and other products. In the last 20 years of his life, he produced paintings focused on historical events and perceptions of them. In this exhibition in the me Collectors Room around 200 works, editions, are on show.

The me Collectors Room in Auguststrasse, Mitte, Berlin is “a platform for international private art collections to present themselves in Berlin. Commanding 1300 square metres of exhibition space, the Olbricht Collection, which features works from the Renaissance up to the present day, has had its permanent home here since May 2010”. The me Collectors Room often share the space with other international collectors and collections in special exhibitions or group shows.

The Editions runs until August 27th 2017.

More info on the gallery’s website.

Celebrating Gerhard Richter

Lower East dedicated this weekend to join Berlin’s celebration of Gerhard Richters 80th birthday. Together with our good friend Claus Lembourn we first viewed the huge retrospective exhibition at Neues Nationalgalerie “Gerhard Richter: Panorama”. It was breathtaking. We were thrilled by the way the exhibition was curated and designed and the museum – drawn by Mies van der Rohe – was the perfect framing for Richters works. We didn’t really want to leave the works – even though the sun was shining and spring was all over. The guard let us go and have a coffee and come back again to take a last glimpse on the works. Thanks for that. Here you can watch a movie on the exhibition from the museum’s website.

Sunday we went to Alte Nationalgalerie to see Richters best known series of paintings, the fifteen-part painting cycle “October 18, 1977”. It was created ten years after the events of what is referred to as the ‘German Autumn’. October 1977 marked the culmination of the crisis in West Germany instigated by the terrorist activities of the Red Army Faction (RAF, sometimes known as the ‘Baader-Meinhof Group’). By reproducing in sombre shades of grey the images taken from the press and blurring them, sometimes beyond recognition, he also portrays the young democracy’s paralysis in the face of a threat from within. It was heavy stuff that made us quiet and thoughtful.

After a break we went on to me Collectors Room Berlin and watched the exhibition Gerhard Richter – editions 1965-2011. The exhibtion shows some 150 works from The Olbricht Collection and presents Gerhard Richter’s graphic prints, photographic editions, multiples, editions in oil, artist’s books and artist’s posters. Great space, great exhibition and a good and uplifting way to end our Richter celebration. Check out this film from the exhibition space.

We were blown away. We highly recommend to go and see all these exhibitions.