In Conversation: Ben Luke and Michael Neff on Günther Förg

On the occasion of the exhibition ‘Günther Förg. Tupfenbilder,’ please join us at Hauser & Wirth London for a conversation between art critic and broadcaster Ben Luke and Michael Neff from the Günther Förg Estate.

This free talk will reflect on the breadth of Förg’s artistic production, the swift movement between mediums with an abruptness that so characteristically defined the artist and his work, whilst also focusing in on his final series, the Spot Paintings (Tupfenbilder).

Welcome drinks will be served from 6 pm, with the talk starting promptly at 6.30 pm. Although this event is free to attend, please book your tickets in advance.

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‘Günther Förg. Tupfenbilder’ is on view through 29 April 2023.

Günther Förg was a prolific painter, sculptor, graphic designer and photographer whose daring conceptual works incorporate and critique tropes of the sprawling movement known as modernism. This exhibition, in the North Gallery of the London space, displays Förg’s Spot Paintings, the artist’s final series made between 2005 – 2010 before he stopped painting in 2010 after suffering a stroke.

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About Günther Förg Günther Förg is one of the most significant German artists of the postwar generation. In the breadth of his production, from monochrome painting to color studies, from photography to wall paintings, from bronze reliefs to sculptures, Förg explored what art critic Kirsty Bell describes as ‘the visual field,’ swiftly moving between mediums and series with an abruptness that so characteristically defined the artist and his work. Like many of his contemporaries, including his friends Martin Kippenberger, Albert Oehlen and Christopher Wool, Förg would devote his practice to wrestling with the feeling of disenchantment with painting and the binding ties to modernism.

About Ben Luke Ben Luke is a writer and broadcaster based in London. He is a contributing editor of The Art Newspaper, and presents its podcasts ‘A brush with…’ and ‘The Week in Art.’ Since 2009, he has been a critic at the London Evening Standard, and he has contributed to a range of art publications. He is a regular guest on Monocle 24’s The Globalist and has appeared on numerous other radio and television shows. Ben has contributed to books on artists as diverse as Matthew Krishanu, Mark Dion, Michael Craig-Martin, George Shaw and Jiro Takamatsu.

About Michael Neff Michael Neff is an art consultant based in Germany. He was Günther Förg’s longtime assistant, and now works with the Estate of Günther Förg.