Cabinet pieces: Richter/Polke - Transformation

The cabinet piece Richter/Polke - Transformation presents early graphic works by the two important German artists Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke, who met at the Düsseldorf Academy in 1962. Based on the joint work Umwandlung (Transformation), created in 1968, the exhibition examines the extent to which change is an important creative element in the work of both artists and how it challenges the viewer's perceptual structures.
The works are linked by a multi-layered, often ambiguous way of working and reflective thinking about the meaning of the image and its representation. Richter also focuses on various visual techniques, such as optical illusion or manipulation, which make the limitations of perception and the possibility of knowledge visible and at the same time make the viewer aware of their imperfection. Polke's works, on the other hand, appear to be random commentaries on art and society, which are not infrequently borne by wit and irony and whose often seemingly strange text-image combinations serve as a design element to irritate perception.