Raimund Girke Raimund Girke – Historical Survey
10. February 2022Raimund-Girke – Historical Survey
Raimund Girke (1930–2002) is a great painter who is often called the Painter of White. His pictures are pure paintings. His preferred material was oil paint, which he applied to the front of the canvas with sweeping brushstrokes in a clearly recognizable style – like his handwriting.
Dr. Dorothea van der Koelen has known the legendary painter since 1984 and describes him as her “most important companion at a young age.” In this film she reviews her relationship with Girke – from meeting them in the 1980s to the last, posthumous exhibition in 2005 – and arranges his work in terms of art history. As if casually, she draws a concise picture of art history after 1945 and locates Raimund Girke in it.
In the new exhibition Color and Form in Dialogue, which can be admired in the ›Cadoro – Center for Art and Science in Mainz‹, Raimund Girke, the Painter of White, meets Daniel Buren, the French Master of Minimal Art. In the two halves of the Showrooms on the ground floor of the Cadoro the works of the two masters face each other. The works in their diversity illustrate the multifaceted nature of (representational) art rather than form a contrast. The works complement each other, focusing on color on the one hand and form on the other.