Adrian Ghenie

Pace Gallery, New York
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

New York, Pace Gallery, Adrian Ghenie: New Paintings, 2013
Málaga, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Adrian Ghenie, 2014-15, p. 57, illustrated in colour

Juerg Judin, Ed., Adrian Ghenie, 2013, p. 111, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Extremely close inspection reveals evidence of light wear to the upper two corner tips. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
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As one of the most exciting and promising painters to emerge from Romania over the last decades, Adrian Ghenie is part of a generation of artists including Victor Mann and Ciprian Muresan that are influenced by the traumatic experiences of the Communist dictatorship and its effect on the human psyche and society in general. The aftermath of this regime witnessed a sudden and abrupt switch to open-market capitalism in the 1990s, which resulted in a fast transformation of the country during which the atrocious events under the leadership of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu were buried in the nation’s subconscious rather than openly processed. Ghenie’s highly attuned sense of cultural awareness is reflected in his powerful paintings in which he often references historic figures – ranging from German Nazi figures such as Adolf Hitler or Josef Mengele to evolutionary scientist Charles Darwin. In particular his portrait paintings reveal the artist’s extraordinary skill in capturing the complexity of the human condition and its ambiguity, which is emphasised by multiple layers of oil paint that deliberately negate any definitive interpretation.

In the present work, short, undulating swings of paint are merged with curvilinear shapes to form the crepuscular apparition of a face set against a visceral wall of colour fields. The strong, fleshy colours of the skin are adjusted with hints of purple and contrasted with swathes of black that enhance the discomforting atmosphere of the painting. Coarse brush strokes fuse with the crisp ridges from Ghenie’s palette knife to create a distinct abstract quality that goes beyond pure aesthetic concerns. The resulting blur in the portrait’s appearance not only emphasises the disquieting ambiguity of the work but is also starkly contrasted by the sitter’s mouth and eyes that are depicted in piercing black. What appears in this painterly apparition is a mask-like face of indiscernible emotional expression yet clear historic reference, a face at once remotely distant yet expressively contoured through strong colour compositions.

Ghenie’s exceptional strength derives from his astute observation of the uncertainty of human behaviour, merging his personal vision with aspects of history. His status as one of the preeminent contemporary painters has not only been confirmed by the inclusion of his works in some of the most prestigious museum collections, such as the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, but also by the artist’s highly acclaimed solo exhibition at the Romanian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale last year. Displaying his extraordinary ability to convey the trauma of local history in an artistic language that is defined by textural expression and thick, colourful impasto, most of the works featured in the pavilion were also portrait works – both of the artist himself as well as historical figures such as Darwin or van Gogh. Transformed into larger-than-life emblems, Ghenie’s portraits become a synonym of how history is perceived through a complex blending of historic delivery and personal memory, which scrutinise the viewer’s own idea of truth and the texture of history.