German artist Neo Rauch presents his latest exhibition at David Zwirner‘s Hong Kong location. Titled Field Signs, the presentation is his second-ever solo show in Hong Kong following Propaganda in 2019.
Often regarded as one of the most influential figurative painters of today, Rauch is renowned for his elaborate paintings containing a complex medley of invented characters, settings, and objects which transcend time and space. One of the guests who attended the opening for Field Signs was Jun Takahashi, who recently brought Rauch’s pieces to life during UNDERCOVER‘s captivating Spring 2024 ready-to-wear collection which featured glowing terrarium dresses containing live butterflies.
“Rauch is known for … huge, dense, ostensibly narrative scenes in which narrative is stubbornly elusive,” describes writer Thomas Meaney. “Events seem to take place in a parallel world. Portions of a canvas can be futuristic, with space-age infrastructure, while elsewhere there may be a sky out of Tiepolo and people who have come from the Napoleonic Wars or some primordial Europe.”
“Field Signs” is the english translation for Feldzeichen, one of Neo Rauch’s 2023 paintings. The titular objects which appear in the piece traditionally served as emblems for organising military units and marking out territories belonging to farmers or soldiers. Rauch’s composition however, is anything but clearcut, featuring dreamlike configurations of human figures, landscapes, and objects. The signs are one of Rauch’s recurring motifs, reappearing in Rauch’s Sonne (2023) in the hands of a bearded figure and in Trift (2023) as a type of instrument.
“I always do my best to understand what the motives for [these symbolic elements’] inclusion in the painting are…. They make a case for the limitless nature of pictorial possibilities—to be honest, I can paint whatever I want; I just have to make sure that it’s right for me,” Rauch explains.
The Neo Rauch Field Signs exhibition will run until 24 February 2024 at David Zwirner’s Hong Kong location. More details can be found here.
David Zwirner Hong Kong
5-6/F, H Queen’s
80 Queens Road Central,
Central, Hong Kong
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Images courtesy of David Zwirner
Aaron Chow
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aaron.chow@burdaluxury.com
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