Gugu und Georg (Gugu and Georg)

Unfolding like a frieze, the large scale work Gugu und Georg (Gugu and Georg) stretches out across surfaces saturated with figurative and abstract patterns mixed together with no sense of hierarchy. Named after the painter's two sons, the painting in fact features three silhouettes, two profiled on the left in light pink and green tones on a quaint tapestry pattern, the other facing forward disturbingly raising a hand into the darkness of a midnight blue background.

This work employs the “multidirectional” approach that was so dear to Sigmar Polke, bringing together responsive and visual experimentation. Considering the canvas as a narrative thread, whose meaning is intentionally encoded, the artist mixes intimate figures with wallpaper patterns like the depths of a stellar or deep sea world. The superposition of an unfinished sketch played out in "scatter point" adds to the absurdity of this pictorial polyphony.

The work Gugu und Georg was presented for the first time by the Pinault Collection during the 2016 retrospective exhibition “Sigmar Polke” at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.