Martin Kippenberger

Martin Kippenberger became known in the early 1980s for his neo-expressionist paintings and for his Berlin punk-discotheque-gallery S.O.36. In the tradition of Dada, Fluxus, and Pop, he engaged in a form of confrontational and irreverent anti-art, using an eclectic amalgamation of different media, styles, and techniques. With a mixture of humor, cynicism, and seriousness, he targeted everyone, including himself. He transformed his whimsical ideas into paintings full of paraphrases, assemblages of everyday objects, or chaotic-looking installations. He parodied the narcissism of artists by frequently portraying himself. Kippenberger behaved as the prototype of a bohemian, falsifying his biography, paraphrasing the art of his colleagues, leaving no incident uncommented, and inventing visual and verbal jokes. Building a network was considered by Kippenberger as part of his artistic concept: he acquired works from other artists and presented them in his exhibitions, collaborated with colleagues such as Werner Büttner, Günther Förg, Georg Herold, Albert Oehlen, Markus Oehlen (also known as the Cologne gang), and with a team of collaborators. After a tumultuous life, he passed away at the age of 44 in Vienna.

The exhibition at MDD does not intend to provide an overview of his work but focuses on a few recurring motifs and themes, namely Santa Claus, war, and the canary.

MDD’s desire to showcase Martin Kippenberger arose from the fact that there has never been a museum exhibition on Kippenberger in Belgium. The only Belgian exhibition took place at the Ado Gallery (Antwerp, Bonheiden) in 1987.