Sigmar Polke

Sigmar Polke (b. 1941, Oels, Silesia — d. 2010, Cologne, Germany) is one of the most influential painters of the postwar era. He founded the movement “Kapitalistischer Realismus” (“Capitalist realism”) with Gerhard Richter and Konrad Fischer, a reaction to “Socialist Realism”, the art doctrine from the Soviet Union.Sigmar Polke experimentally renewed painting, photography, and printmaking. By emphasizing the material aspect of the media, he set free their own life. A constant in his painting is the halftone dot of offset printing, which he meticulously reproduces by hand, while at the same time pouring varnish, pigments and chemicals onto the image carrier. And behind humor and postmodern openness hides erudition.His work was presented as solo exhibitions in major venues internationally, including Musée d’Art Moderne Paris, Tate Modern London, MoMA New York, MCA Chicago, Carré d’Art Nîmes, Museum Ludwig Cologne and Palazzo Grassi Venice. He participated in three documenta in Kassel and several Venice Biennale.