Author Description

Journée d?un G.I.± is Ulrike Ottinger?s third solo exhibition at Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin and features paintings and serigraphs from the 1960s. Ulrike Ottinger?s often multi-part works, or works divided into several pictorial fields, reveal a passion for storytelling that ultimately finds its fulfillment in the medium of film. She became somewhat of a cult star in cineaste circles with her Berlin trilogy ?Ticket of No Return± (1979), and particularly with ?Freak Orlando± (1981), which would then be followed by ?Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press± (1984). In 2019, in the diary ?Paris Calligrammes±, she went on to show memories of her formative decade in Paris in a cinematic collection, which brings us right to the heart of the pictorial narratives of ?Journée d?un G.I.±. It?s the mid-1960s, Ulrike Ottinger is a painter, when Paris is shaken by images of war and revolution. At home in Nouvelle Figuration, a Parisian form of Pop Art, it is everyday scenes, comics, photography and advertising that determine the narrative style of Ulrike Ottinger?s images. Day-to-day rituals mingle with references to historical figures and literary heroes. While the daily battles rage, Ulrike Ottinger?s heroes are taking a break; Che Guevara as ?Le penseur± is lolling on a sofa while sipping a drink; Allen Ginsberg, beat poet of the first hour, has ?No more to say and nothing to weep for±. The artist seems to have realized early on that the revolution tends to devours its children.00Exhibition: CFA Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin, Germany (22.06. - 28.08.2021).