Purple Diary
[March 3 2009]
Martin Kippenberger’s first major U.S. retrospective at the Moma: “The Problem Perspective”
Martin Kippenberger’s first major U.S. retrospective at the Moma: “The Problem Perspective”
The title of the show comes from a 1986 text-based painting, The Problem Perspective. You Are Not the Problem, It’s the Problem Maker in Your Head. Other titles of works include If you can’t handle freedom, try see how far you can get with women, and Now I am going into the big birch wood. My pills will soon start doing me good.
In Kippenberger’s last and largest installation, The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s “Amerika,” the German artist reimagines a scene toward the end of Kafka’s unfinished 1927 novel. Arranged on a green floor modeled after a soccer field and surrounded by bleachers, the ecclectic array of furniture includes classic examples of modern design as well as lawn chairs and bar stools purchased from flea markets and works by other artists. The combinations are deliberately ridiculous. For example, two black chairs with open umbrellas circle a giant fried egg and lifeguard stations stand over an enlarged Barbie bathtub.
At The Joan and Preston Robert Tisch Exhibition Gallery on the sixth floor of the MOMA, New York from March 1st to May 11th.
Text and photos by Gavin Doyle
