the technology of old-fashioned magic

Excerpt from feature in Oct 2009 Art in America

"In the course of producing three large lightbox works commissioned for the 1999 reopening of the Reichstag in Berlin, Sigmar Polke started experimenting with various mediums that would allow him to paint on them while being transparent to imagery over which they were applied. After a year and a half, he and his assistants arrived at a polymer gel that could hold its shape when combed into lenticular ridges. Usually he orients the corrugations vertically, like massive blow-ups of the plastic ridges that animate optical “3D” postcards, allowing butterfly wings to flap or Jesus to move on the cross.

The 26 “Lens Paintings” (2006-08) shown at Michael Werner Gallery in New York this spring (40 were exhibited earlier in 2009 at the Arts Club of Chicago) cause nothing so perceptually dramatic, though the images do change as you move from side to side."

- Stephen westfall is an artist and writer currently living in Rome.

“Sigmar Polke: Lens Paintings” appeared at Michael Werner, New York, May 6-June 29. “Sigmar Polke: The Editions,” a four-decade survey, is at Museum Ludwig, Cologne through Sept. 27.