Martin Kippenberger

Showman, shaman and enfant terrible, Martin Kippenberger was the ringleader of the ‘Junge Wilde’ (‘Young Wild Ones’) who fuelled the German Neo-Expressionist art scene during the 1980s. Known for his outlandish public persona and irreverent sense of humour, his uniquely eclectic output encompassed paintings, drawings, sculpture, prints, photographs and installations. His multi-faceted artworks railed against the establishment, appropriating and critiquing art history, pop culture and contemporary society.

Kippenberger was born in Dortmund in 1953, and studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg. Though influenced by Sigmar Polke, who taught there at the time, he eventually became disenchanted with the academy. Travelling through Europe, he became something of a nomadic impresario, dabbling in acting, painting, punk music, writing and curating.

During the early 1980s Kippenberger based himself in Cologne. Among his circle were Albert Oehlen, Werner Büttner and Georg Herold. Riotous and subversive, these artists took a sledgehammer to genres, media and styles, opening up new conceptual possibilities for painting. Many of Kippenberger’s works interrogated questions of authorship and originality, prompting comparisons with Andy Warhol.

In 1988 Kippenberger and Oehlen travelled to Spain. There he embarked upon a career-defining series of self-portraits. Kippenberger saw art as a performance, in which he was both the star and the tragic punchline. Blending self-aggrandisement with anti-heroic bathos, untitled works from this period have achieved record-breaking prices at Christie’s, including a famous self-portrait based on a photograph of Picasso in his underwear.

During the 1990s Kippenberger continued to roam the world. He documented his travels in his series of ‘Hotel Drawings’ and launched his ambitious 1992 project Metro Net on the Greek island of Syros. Recurring motifs often functioned as alter-egos, ranging from eggs to frogs to pieces of art history. Picasso remained an idol, with Kippenberger painting himself in the guise of the artist’s widow, Jacqueline, in 1996. That year he also painted a series based on Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa (1818—19), its subjects shot through with his own likeness.

Following Kippenberger’s untimely death in 1997, his international reputation continued to expand. Tate Modern, London mounted his first major UK exhibition in 2006. His debut US retrospective The Problem Perspective followed at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2009. His work played a vital role in the evolution of post-modern painting, challenging long-held assumptions about the role of the artist.