Rudolf Stingel: Schönheitssalon Omm

Since the 1980s, Rudolf Stingel (b. 1956) has continuously redefined and challenged the medium of painting. Known for his monochromatic works, created out of industrial materials such as polyurethane, Styrofoam or aluminium, the artist blurs the boundary between abstraction and representation by reflecting on the physical qualities of painting and the processes behind its production. Stingel’s hyperrealist oil paintings and photographic portraits, sourced from existing images and often painted on a vast scale, tread the line between original and reproduction, invoking human presence despite the very absence of artistic authorship.

Stingel is also celebrated for his site-specific installations featuring surfaces lined with carpets or insulation boards. Transforming architectural spaces into total works of art, these transient and tactile productions are completed by the presence and participation of the viewer.

‘Mr. Stingel is among the great anti-painting painters of our age, a descendant of Warhol but much more involved with painting’s conventions and processes, which he alternately spurns, embraces, parodies or exaggerates. His art asks what are paintings, who makes them, and how?’

R. Smith, ‘The Threads That Tie a Show Together’, in The New York Times, 20 August 2013