White Cube Bermondsey is pleased to present an exhibition of recent works, many with historical roots, by Imi Knoebel. An installation of multipart, monochrome paintings in 9 × 9 × 9 pairs new works from the artist’s ongoing ‘Konstellation’ series with a six-panel piece, all of which were first conceived in 1975. The adjacent South Gallery I groups a variety of new paintings, several of which trace their origins to 1968 and 1975. Together the presentations highlight the artist’s playful, evolutionary approach to non-objective art.
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Imi Knoebel
o.T. (Untitled), 1975/1996o.T. [Untitled] (1975/96), comprised of three equal-size, white rectangular bars, each formed from two closely abutted squares and stacked horizontally on the gallery wall, was first shown in an exhibition of canvases exploring alternatives to the medium’s traditional rectangular format at the Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf in 1975 and was remade in acrylic on wood panels in 1996.
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Three works in vivid cadmium red, titled Kadmiumrot 6, 9 and 10 (1975/2017 and 1975/2019), consisting of three, seven and five irregular rhomboidal panels, respectively, are inspired by both astronomical objects and Knoebel’s own light projection experiments of 1968, in which fields of light became distorted into complex shapes as they fell on the insides and outsides of buildings.
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Imi KnoebelKadmiumrot 6, 1975/2017Acrylic and woodThree parts, overall: 351 x 148 x 9 cm | 138 3/16 x 58 1/4 x 3 9/16 in.FIND OUT MORE
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Imi KnoebelKadmiumrot 9 , 1975/2019Acrylic and woodSeven parts, overall: 445 x 320 x 9 cm | 175 3/16 x 126 x 3 9/16 in.FIND OUT MORE
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Imi KnoebelKadmiumrot 10, 1975/2019Acrylic and woodFive parts, overall: 408.3 x 300 x 9 cm | 160 3/4 x 118 1/8 x 3 9/16 in.FIND OUT MORE
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‘When I am asked about what I think when I look at a painting, I can only answer that I don't think at all; I look at it and can only take in the beauty, and I don't want to see it in relation to anything else. Only what I see, simply because it has its own validity.’
- Imi Knoebel, 2015
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Exhibition video
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Imi Knoebel
Hartfaserbild - 160x130, 1968/2017Hartfaserbild – 160 × 130 [Masonite Painting – 160 × 130] (1968/2017), a work in unpainted Masonite, an early, signature material dating to his experiments in Room 19, the classroom Beuys gave Knoebel to the young Knoebel and his then artistic partner Imi Giese. This industrially produced material has a warm brown hue that Knoebel prizes, and throughout his career he has used raw Masonite panels of varying sizes to make paintings.
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Three recent paintings in thickly brushed-on acrylic on shaped aluminium panels; the multi coloured Figura Psi (2019) and Figura He (2020), and the light and dark brown Figura Daleth (both 2020), show the direction of Knoebel’s latest work: experiments with free brushwork and freeform support shapes inspired, in part, by his young granddaughter’s colouring books.
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Imi KnoebelFigura He, 2020Acrylic on aluminium246.5 x 183.6 x 4.5 cm | 97 1/16 x 72 5/16 x 1 3/4 in.FIND OUT MORE
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Imi KnoebelFigura Daleth, 2020Acrylic on aluminium196.4 x 299 x 4.5 cm | 77 5/16 x 117 11/16 x 1 3/4 in.FIND OUT MORE
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Imi KnoebelFigura Psi, 2019Acrylic on aluminium239 x 173 x 4.5 cm | 94 1/8 x 68 1/8 x 1 3/4 in.FIND OUT MORE
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Imi Knoebel
Kadmiumrot C C1-C5, 1975/2018The five-part, acrylic-on-wood painting Kadmiumrot C C1 – C5 belongs to Knoebel’s ongoing 'Konstellation' (Constellation) series first conceived in 1975, when the artist developed the idea of wall works composed of rhomboidal panels arranged like groups of stars.
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Imi Knoebel
Bild 15.10.2019, 2019Resembling a flaming meteor or an exploding cannonball, Imi Knoebel’s Bild 15.10.2019, illustrates the playful juxtapositions running through his work. Knoebel’s fearlessly experimental paintings, sculptures, installations and works on paper range from spare to multiplex and geometric to freeform, often in the same work. This painting on aluminium panel’s eccentric green and pink hues and ebullient paint handling show the free, experimental spirit running through all of the artist’s work.
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‘I don’t want to arrive at anything but colour [...] I bring colour into all kinds of contexts. That keeps it open. There is no colour I don’t work with’
- Imi Knoebel, 1994
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Imi Knoebel was born in Dessau, Germany in 1940 and lives and works in Düsseldorf. He has exhibited extensively including solo exhibitions at Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland (2018); Museum Haus Lange und Haus Esters, Krefeld, Germany (2015); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, K21, Düsseldorf, Germany (2015); Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2014); Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany (2011); Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (2010); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2009); Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin (2009); Dia:Beacon, New York (2008); Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany (2004); Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany (2002); Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia, Spain (1997); Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland (1997); Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (1996); and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1996).
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To enquire about any of the works in this exhibition
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Imi Knoebel
Artist Page
