The provocative, hard-drinking and prolific artist: Martin Kippenberger

Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997) was one of the most controversial and important artists of his generation. Influenced by the "Junge Wilde" (young wild ones) painting style from the late 1970s, he became a prominent artist on the West German art scene during his lifetime. Internationally, Kippenberger is perceived as a world-class contemporary artist.

Martin Kippenberger was born in Dortmund in 1953. He grew up in an artistically ambitious household in the Ruhr area. His father was a mining director and his mother, an artist. After years in boarding school, he dropped out in 1968 and completed his apprenticeship as a decorator. Drugs, rehab, excessive alcohol and art school — his life as an artist was marked by extremes, with ups and downs.

The revolutionary themes of the 1968 movement appeared repeatedly in Kippenberger's work: modified, alienated, mostly weird and often with biographical references. Criticism of capitalism and consumption, anti-clericalism: He captured everything on canvas with exuberant creativity. Many subjects came from the careful observation of his contemporaries.

This picture — oil on varnish — has become an icon of contemporary art in Germany and has often appeared on T-shirts and bags. Martin Kippenberger was not a theorist nor a supporter of political ideologies. He used the "communist woman" motif ironically, distorted like a comic.

Kippenberger constantly moved from one town to another: Florence, Hamburg, Berlin, New York, LA, Paris, Seville and Cologne, again and again. Being on the road was an artistic way of life. The work "Farbenlehre" (Color Theory) from 1994 was painted three years before his death.

Kippenberger was an excessive pub and bar hopper. Anyone who had gone out with him knew that he had no limits and that he regularly put himself on the brink. Drugs, alcohol, people and art — he consumed everything in vast quantities. The legendary "Paris Bar," the nocturnal meeting place of the art scene in Berlin, was his home port for a long time, immortalized by him several times in oil.

For nights on end, Kippenberger roamed the streets, pubs, bars and often ended up in shady establishments. Night owls were his favorite companions. Much of what he saw would reappear in some form in his paintings. Here is an "Untitled" self-portrait from the series "Window Shopping until 2 a.m.," which today belongs to a private collector.

As an artist, Kippenberger knew no taboos and no reservations. He was just as active in the leather world of the gay scene as he was in chic galleries and the professional business world of art fairs. He essentially saw himself as an "artist actor," and at times wanted to become an actor. He was interested in what was going on in people's minds, as seen here in a painting of Paul Schreber's brain.

Kippenberger found postmodernism superfluous; he radically abandoned the hippie look that was fashionable in his Berlin days. From then on, he wore the finest suits and leather shoes — all made to measure. He even worked in these clothes while in his studio. He wanted to be a walking contradiction. And he didn't want to get lost in the mainstream of the art scene.

Martin Kippenberger continually used his body as a living sculpture. In 1996 he married the fashion photographer Elfie Semotan. His wife often photographed him, such as here for part of the series "The raft of the Medusa" (1996), which can be seen in the Bonn exhibition.

In 1996, the artist travelled to Venice. The photo "Frieda VIII" shows him on a dull, rainy day at St. Mark's Square, with few tourists around. Martin Kippenberger strongly influenced German art in the 1980s and 90s until he died in Vienna in 1997. The Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn is showing the exhibition "Bitteschön Dankeschön" until February 16, 2020.