Imi Knoebel * Lot n° 234

(born in Dessau 1940) Pure Freude 39, 2001, signed, dated and numbered on the reverse imi 2001 – 39, acrylic on aluminum, 160 x 114.5 x 4.5 cm Provenance: Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin Private Collection, North Rhine-Westphalia - acquired from the above This work by Imi Knoebel belongs to the series “Pure Freude”. Named after his wife Carmen’s record label “Pure Freude”, the series deals with the effect of colours and forms. The works in this series, which were created in 2001 and 2002, are minimalist but nevertheless have an intense spatial impact and their design is reminiscent of the style of colour field painting that was practised in the USA in the 1960s. In the works from this series, the colours appear monochrome in individual, distinct colour fields on aluminium. The joints between the colour fields accentuate the division, enhancing the intrinsic value of each of the individual colours. Imi Knoebel uses visible brushstrokes, so that a closer look reveals the structuring of the smooth surface. Knoebel transposes the individual colour fields into a relief-like composition that lends the picture a three-dimensional quality. The work “Pure Freude Nr. 39” captivates with its strictly geometrical arrangement of the two colour fields. A radiant yellow rectangle is surrounded by a larger, dark blue colour field, and at the bottom edge the yellow field uniquely ends with the border. Our work from the series “Pure Freude” perfectly reflects Knoebel’s artistic oeuvre and is typical of his working method.