Polke, Sigmar

Polke, Sigmar (1941– ). German painter, born at Oels (now Olesnicka) in Lower Silesia. From 1961 to 1966 he studied at the Düsseldorf Academy, where he was influenced by Joseph Beuys. His paintings are typically commentaries on other paintings, parodying the conventions of modernity (Untitled—Referring to Max Ernst, Stadtisches Kunstmuseum, Bonn, 1981). An exhibition of Polke's work was held at the Tate Gallery, Liverpool, in 1995. Reviewing this show, Frank Whitford wrote in the Sunday Times: ‘He sends up the gestural spontaneity of abstract expressionism, the pseudo-philosophical pretensions of conceptualism, and pop art's prostration before the totems of consumerism … He clearly feels that humour, both sophisticated and crude, is the best antidote to self-important artistic attitudes … Devices such as these may strike you as witty or amusing, arch or pointlessly complex.’