Karl Wiebke
1944 - untitled J/04 1996-2004- enamels on wood
'This painting is the completion of a body of work I had started in Fremantle in 1991 and finished in Melbourne in 2004. They are wooden constructions covered with paint - and painted mostly out in the open.
Set up on easels in the garden, the painting process began. Paint got applied in one direction only at a time: from left to right, right to left and top to bottom.
This process went on for years. Seeing meaning in one's activity rather than in its materialised form. Paint not being used for something but being itself the subject.' Karl Wiebke, 2004Karl Wiebke is one of Australia's leading abstract painters. Born in Germany, Wiebke trained in Hamburg alongside significant artists such as Sigmar Polke. These formative years led Wiebke to focus on Tafelbild (panel) painting in which the conceptual and material elements of painting were questioned.
Since relocating to Australia in 1981, Wiebke has exhibited extensively and is recognised as one of the leading practitioners of concrete art in this country.
© Karl Wiebke/Copyright Agency, 2018