2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
View: Paris mid-April from Centre Pompidou.
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
Going up.
Mid-April in Paris, during its last days, I was fortunate to see the retrospective exposition of the works of Anselm Keifer at the Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Centre Pompidou. This exposition takes place in my heart as an “all-time favorite.”
German-born Anselm Kiefer, born 8 March 1945, planned from childhood to become an artist. After formal studies, he relocated to the Languedoc region in the south of France, and recently relocated to Paris. Born just after the war, Anselm plunged into an unyielding search to make sense of his heritage, and relentlessly pursued his curiosity with cultural ruin. Comments below the images are my impressions, and links to information are cited.
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
A certain elegance to ruined culture, reveals that something remains true and we can allow it.
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
Underwater sewing garden.
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
Sacred geometry in numbers.
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
Tree of life prevails.
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
Stacks of missing.
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
Robust regeneration in gold.
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
There is much darkness in loss of connection to the entirety of our humanity.
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
Dust floats.
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
Either directly or by strong implication, many of these references to German culture and history also evoke the uses and misuses to which the visual and verbal propaganda of the Third Reich subjected them.
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
Regeneration is natural.
As Kiefer has said in reference to this national legacy of World War II, “[A]fter the ‘misfortune,’ as we all name it so euphemistically now, people thought that in 1945 we were starting all over again . . . It’s nonsense. The past was put under taboo, and to dig it up again generates resistance and disgust.” (Heilbronn).
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
War is the problem, never ever the solution. Simply think about it.
This exposition brilliantly rendered understandable the life work of Anselm Kiefer to show the profound significance of the restorative power of art. Keifer’s works instantly are recognizable: massive, thick apocalyptic scenes of pastoral destruction, and, as I feel it, there exists also embedded within a divine elegance in his works. He faces head on the complexities of our shared human past—Nazism, Norse mythology, Kabbalah— and he acknowledges equally our penchant for destruction and our power to transcend it.
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
Imagine all the people living life in Peace.
May 1st, Global Love Day –
“We are one humanity on this planet.
All life is interconnected and interdependent.
All share in the Universal bond of love.
Love begins with self-acceptance and forgiveness.
With respect and compassion we embrace diversity.
Together we make a difference through love.”
2016, Anselm Keifer, Musée Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
Sacré Cœur kissing the clouds in the background.
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