Günther Förg was born in Füssen, DE, in 1952. He lives and works in Colombier, CH.



Even though he has made important contributions to both architectural photography and sculpture, Günther Förg is primarily recognized worldwide as one of the most important abstract painters of the past 30 years.



Günther Förg paints monochrome or mixed compositions with pure colours, that range from very rigorous, to organized, to more lyrical. Förg paints both on classical carriers such as paper, wood panel, and (prepared) canvas, and on unusual materials such as lead and copper. The painting of Günther Förg is obviously reminiscent of the modernism of the architecture, urbanism, and art that precede him. Günther Förg has succeeded in critically evaluating the aspirations, achievements and shortcomings of modernism and elaborating upon them. Förg masterly showcases the essence of colour, the importance of the gesture that makes the colour sensation possible, the influence and possibilities of the carrier, the various possibilities of the form that develops within a given format, and finally his own creativity and virtuosity, in the way he creates, within these minimal boundaries, aesthetically haunting paintings.

Günther Förg’s third solo exhibition at Deweer Gallery renders an excellent idea of the artistic aspirations of the artist. It consists of three large elements: an important series of monotypes, a large number of pastel drawings (so-called Dot Images)and a monumental monochrome wall painting.

Since the late 90s Günther Förg has used the monotype technique quite often. To make a monotype, the artist uses paint to paint a motive on a sheet of glass, after which he lays a sheet of paper onto the wet paint, to create a contact print. The production process that guarantees an original, unique result, appeals very much to Günther Förg because it allows him both to make a work from the process and to continue to work on the image and the colours afterwards. By working on the glass and by making a print at each and every stage he judges fit, the artist is able to tell the story of the development of the motive (in this case an abstract landscape) and its colours.

By painting one wall of the exhibition room into a monochrome wall painting, Förg links the spatial environment of the exhibition and the spatiality of that specific colour to the pictorial story that is being told by his works.



Aside from numerous gallery exhibitions worldwide, the most important, recent solo exhibitions of Günther Förg were organized by the Fondation Beyeler (Riehen/Basel, 2009-2010), the Essl Museum (Klosterneuburg/Vienna, 2008), the Langen Foundation (Neuss, 2007) and the Museum für Gegenwartskunst (Basel, 2006). Deweer Gallery introduced Günther Förg in the 1991 group exhibition “To Return to Base” (with Tony Cragg, Jiri Georg Dokoupil, Imi Knoebel and Gerhard Merz) and presented Günther Förg twice with solo shows: in 1995 and in 2000 (exhibitions with catalogue).