Arnulf Rainer : Rosarot Himmelblau

An exploration of the overpainting technique that gained Arnulf Rainer worldwide renown.
 
Austrian artist Arnulf Rainer is best known for layering dark paint over photographs, covering and altering existing artworks. But Rainer has also deployed this overpainting technique with other hues—red, blue, green, and white. This volume vividly demonstrates the range of color in Rainer’s work, as well as the way he applies paint. The energetic strength in his hand and finger paintings from the 1970s and 1980s eventually gave way to a transparent painting method, which used broad brushes to apply paint like a veil. A visually stunning book that overturns expectations about a celebrated contemporary artist, Arnulf Rainer features works from a wide variety of series, including Blattmalerei, Engel, Geologica, Goya, Landschaften, Mikrokosmos, and Makrokosmos.

Master of overpainting – experience the fascinating oeuvre of Arnulf Rainer. The art of Arnulf Rainer (*1929) is baffling. The “black overpainting”, with which he covers previous work, is world famous. We overlook the fact that overpaintings in red, blue, green and white also exist and thus that colour always belonged to his means of expression, as this volume vividly demonstrates. Characteristic of Rainer’s work is not only the use of paint, but also the way that he applies it, as the energetic use of physical strength in his hand and finger paintings from the 1970s and 1980s shows. At the end of this period he changed over to a more transparent painting method and used broad brushes to apply the paint like a veil. The visually stunning publication presents works from widely differing series, including Blattmalerei, Engel, Geologica, Goya, Landschaften, Mikrokosmos and Makrokosmos.