With Andy Warhol and Co, heavyweights of Pop Art present themselves

Franziska Reinbothe’s work is all about material. However, the painter does not work on the actual picture carrier, but with it: she deconstructs the canvas with cuts and folds, seams and perforations, or even breaks the stretcher frame.

While her acrylic-painted “transformations”, as the graduate of the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig calls her iridescent works that are somewhere between painting and sculpture, are out of shape, her chiffon works at the stand of Mathias Güntner (Hamburg/Berlin) appear to be the aesthetic opposite. Softly flowing folds, delicately, almost masterfully painted, one suspects at first and even at second glance.

111 galleries from 24 countries

Only upon closer inspection does Reinbothe’s amusing chutzpah become apparent. The wooden structure that shines through the bright yellow, transparent fabric is the real stretcher frame and Frank Stella’s “what you see is what you see” also applies to the folds – they consist of nothing more than a cleverly draped additional layer of textile (2300-7500 euros).

At the Berlin art fair Positions Art Fair, painting is not usually questioned so decisively or even deceived with a wink. At the eleventh edition, the traditional medium is omnipresent. Art producers from 60 nations, represented by 111 galleries from 24 countries, compete for the favor of collectors in the hangars of the former Tempelhof airport.

The first points were already awarded on the eve of the opening at Station of Art in Warsaw for the painter Paweł Grabowski and for the color magician Ruprecht Geiger at the stand of Malte Ueckermann, who also presented the minimalist steles by Elisabeth Lux, subtly balanced between sculpture and architecture.

Motives by Macke and Liebermann

Thole Rotermund is as classic as ever. The highlight is Max Pechstein’s watercolor “Fishing Boats in the Harbor” from 1922 for 128,000 euros. The Hamburg art dealer is also offering originals and prints by Max Liebermann, Ernst Heckel and Alexej von Jawlensky or pieces of art from the sketchbooks of August Macke (from 12,000 euros).

Jörg Maaß from Berlin is offering high-quality prints by Emil Nolde and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, as well as a “coffee house scene” that George Grosz drew in 1918 with a loose reed pen and biting humor (6,000-64,000 euros). The most expensive work at the fair is Rudolf Jahn’s 1923 abstract painting “Nude with Trees” for 300,000 euros at the Brockstedt Gallery.

© Photo: Gallery Benden and Ackermann

With Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselman and Roy Lichtenstein, the Rhineland gallery Benden and Ackermann is bringing Pop Art heavyweights to the positions. Most of these are editions in the five-figure euro range, led by Warhol’s screen print “Joseph Beuys” for 55,000 euros.

Osper has the so-called painter princes in his luggage. The Cologne-based art dealer is offering Markus Lüpertz’s impulsive oil painting “Nude from the Back” from 2005, flanked by a turtle and trees, for 85,000 euros. Georg Baselitz has obviously turned clearly male nudes “Without Trousers in Avignon” on their head with finely hatched drypoint and aquatint (11,000 euros each).

The Tammen Gallery represents established painting of the middle generation with Lars Theuerkauff, who can be seen in person in one of Volker Leyendecker’s portraits. A strong figuration comes from the Swiss artist Michael Streun, whose dark landscapes, despite their intense colors, give you the chills and make you think.

A focus on Korea

Thanks to this year’s country focus, art from South Korea is present in large numbers. After K-Pop, now also K-Art. At the joint stand with the Berlin gallery FeldbuschWiesnerRudolph, which is presenting works by Anna Nero and Benedikt Leonhardt, ThisWeekendRoom from Seoul is showing Jina Park, born in 1980. Trained in oriental painting, the artist studied under Neo Rauch and Heribert C. Ottersbach in Leipzig after receiving a DAAD scholarship. In surreal-looking pictures, Park extracts brilliant surfaces from the matte brittleness of egg tempera and combines pictorial traditions from her homeland with contemporary motifs.

Also coming from South Korea are Aria and N Gallery, Seojung Art and Choi & Choi from Cologne and Seoul. The ERD Gallery also comes from the Asian art metropolis with quirky and extremely cheerful works by Kim Cham Sae, who uses Korean color techniques, writing and textiles to paint seemingly angry, childlike creatures or animals and combine them into exuberant collages.

Sculptures that melt

Textile art is also experiencing a revival at Positions. The Intershop gallery from Leipzig is representing trendy fabrics with Judith Miriam Escherlor and Louise WallSeneit. Abi Spendlove has an exciting appearance at Von Schulthess Collection & Residency from Zurich. The British artist, born in 1985, works with ice, which she colors and melts. The random structures on the thin fabrics are reminiscent of the composition of nature and landscape (600-7500 euros).

In contrast to Spendlove’s calm material excursions, the American Sadie Laska comes up with fabric collages that look like demonstration banners. A birdfish sighs “go fund yourself” and a headless figure blowing down upside down reads “make words less human”. The cheerfully macabre flags and windsocks can be found at the stand of Golestani from Düsseldorf.

The works of Detlef Halfa, who created his abstract roller paintings using standard paint rollers, are worth rediscovering. The artist, who died in 2006 and is represented by mianki from Berlin, can also be seen with complex number paintings in Artima’s special exhibition, with which the insurer supports unjustly forgotten artists.

Peruvian Carolina Bazo moves on the threshold between art and fashion design with her series entitled “Resilience”. The performer dressed in red and white in the photographs at O ​​Art Project in Lima wears a racy headdress. This seems to match the collection by Maximilian Gedra – one of 20 Berlin designers who can be admired at Fashion Position; because here too the boundaries between sculpture and clothing dissolve.