Anton Henning, Abendlied 21.57 Uhr, 2005.In his first solo show in Scotland, German artist Anton Henning will create a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) within Talbot Rice Gallery. Bright painted walls will transform the space providing a backdrop for the exhibition, which brings together furniture, lighting, easel painting, sculpture, window painting and drawing. Read more …
Henning’s bold, individual style, fluent in art historical references, challenges notions of ‘good’ taste. His work pays homage to revered Modern artists like Matisse and Picabia while including subject matter, such as ‘chocolate box’ images of birds and sunsets and naked female figures that are often subject to censure. Henning’s approach also draws from the movement of ‘bad painting’ of the late 1970s and 1980s, a movement of artists disregarding restrictive conventions in order to explore alternative possibilities in painting. In Germany this movement had a particularly rebellious attitude with the Neue Wilde (Young Wild Ones) and artists like Martin Kippenberger.
Anton Henning lives and works in Berlin.
Image courtesy of the artist and Blain Southern, London. © Anton Henning and VG Bildkunst
Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh from Friday August 5, 2011, until Saturday October 22, 2011. More info: www.trg.ed.ac.uk
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