IMI KNOEBEL
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
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INTRODUCTION
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C.V.
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LINKS
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WORKS
Selection
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
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INTRODUCTION
Color lithography Untitled, yellow
Imi Knoebel is one of the few artists to whom a major German museum dedicated a traveling retrospective during his lifetime: Haus der Kunst in 1996, and from there to the Stedelijk in Amsterdam and beyond.
Imi Knoebel has wanted since 1964 and continues to want to move beyond his tutelage under Joseph Beuys in a different direction, toward minimalist painting, graphics, and sculpture. He first followed Kasimir Malevich’s revolutionary example, then on to purist line pictures and white canvases, then in the 1970s to color. By way of his “red led” pictures – painted with anti-rust paint – he slowly felt his way across the entire spectrum through to the end of the decade. Imi Knoebel’s colors are full and bright and are used for their haptic qualities; there are no processes or transitions.
Consequently his question about the primary colors red, yellow, and blue: "How could we let only Mondrian and Newmann use these colors?" That is a basic question for every painter. He has always proven the courage to take on the great masters; today he is one of them.
