Imi Knoebel Figura Chi, 2019

Imi Knoebel’s resolutely abstract art investigates the fundamentals of painting and sculpture. The artist has developed an experimental approach and serial way of working, characterised by a haptic use of colour, geometric vocabulary of forms and material simplicity. His Figura works are made from aluminium panels, a material the artist has increasingly used since the 1990s, creating colour fields that are defined by the relationship between the pigments and their boundaries.

Mounted at a slight distance from the wall, reinforcing a sense of weightlessness, Figura Chi (2019) is characterised by its exuberant shape and animated surface. The use of pastel colours in the composition denotes a joyful, candid visual vocabulary and subtle variations in tone emerge from the richly textured brushwork. The radiant colours appear almost detached from the picture plane, developing a life of their own. Their purpose lies not in the representation of a preconceived idea, but rather in their pure presence and the immediate effect on the viewer.

A major institutional presentation of Knoebel’s works is currently on view at the Sammlung Goetz, Munich (until April 2023).