Artist #16: Anselm Kifer

Landscape with a Wing, 1981
Oil, straw, lead on canvas @VMFA

 Anselm Kifer, born in 1945, is a German artist. He studied with Joseph Beuys at the Düsseldorf Academy in the early 1970s. His works vary from paintings, sculptures or installations. Kifer lives and works out of France and is exhibited all over the world.

ANSELM KIEFER
Merkaba, 2010
Photograph, acrylic, shellac, ash, cotton dress, burned books, and plaster coated thorn bushes in glass and steel frame
111 x 120 7/8 x 13 13/16 inches (282 x 307 x 35 cm)

Kifer's work focuses on German history, mythology, and identity. His works often include mixed media elements such as straw, ash, clay, hair, and led. These things make his work fragile. His paintings and landscapes often appear burnt and broken, which seems to reflect his ideas. Some of his works also have written names and places. Anselm Kifer's works also reflect the writing and poetry of poets such as Paul Celan and Velimir Chlebnikov.

Margarete
1981 (290 Kb); Oil and straw on canvas, 280 x 380 cm (110 x 149 5/8); Saatchi Collection, London

I love the mixed media elements and the feel his works. The images are taken from here and here. Also couldn't get the images from the White Cube site but they also have awesome images of Kifer's art exhibited there. The first image is one that I took from the VMFA.

ANSELM KIEFER
Untitled (Berenice), 2003
Painted photograph with hair
50 x 38 inches (127 x 96.5 cm)