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Sigmar Polke is also a provocateur and similarly interested in finding and representing historical images as a means of both enjoying and calling attention to their inherent irony. Polke’s particular flair for parody and humor is exemplified in Break Domination, 1998. He has recreated the mysticism and expressionistic flourish characteristic of abstract expressionism in an anomalous manner. The slashing brushstrokes and the intense color washes in oil on canvas have become a luminous wash on a transparent, glittering fabric, while the heroic artist has entered the painting, as a medieval prankster. The revered personage is now a half-man, half-animal creature from the margins of illuminated manuscripts, cloaked in the spirituality of the gospel and questioning anyone who tries to enter the city walls. Exemplifying the paradoxical nature of the contemporary artist, the figure asks potentially deadly questions about art’s validity, yet persists nonetheless. With his unexpected imagery and materials, Polke continues to make paintings while questioning the very process.
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