In an age where we are increasingly inundated by images, where visual language is the primary language – what is required of a painter to make a compelling picture?

Moving beyond direct pictorial representation from life, painters may address the questions both of relevancy and poignancy, through a number of interrelated methods. They can introduce a remove by painting from a photographic source. They may collage various photographic sources together and paint from that. It could be that paint is collaged with photographs. The artist can extract from motion a moment of in-animation upon which paint is laid as a means of intervention. Some move toward a pure image by removing the hand from the surface of picture plane. Many use paint in illusionistic ways that suggest the feeling of space without articulating a defined object or setting.

This exhibition explores six generations of unorthodox, enticing image making by nine artists. It quietly traces the residue of influence each generation imparts onto the next.

Francis Picabia – Born in Paris, France in 1879 and dies in Paris, France in 1953. A seminal figure of twentieth century art, Francis Picabia consistently embraced diversity and change in a career that spanned over seven decades. Drawing from a variety of sources throughout his life, from early works inspired by the Dada movement to his kitsch portraits of women in the 1930’s and 40’s, Picabia intentionally escaped being identified as part of any one artistic trend of his time. His lifelong resistance to adhere to any one style or set of ideas in his art and his lifestyle was characteristic of his enthusiasm. It was this inimitable propensity to respond to change that secured his place as one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. A major retrospective of Picabia’s work will open in 2016 at Kunsthaus Zürich and travel to The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Sigmar Polke – Born in Oels, Germany in 1941 and dies in Cologne, Germany in 2010. Studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Always an experimental and prolific artist Polke has proved to be one of the most influential voices in contemporary art making.  Having founded Kapitalistischen Realismus, a painting movement with Gerhard Richter and Konrad Lueg (Fischer) in 1963, he worked primarily in painting and drawing throughout the 1960’s. He increasingly turned to photography and film in the following decade, experimenting as well with sculpture and performance, before gradually returning again to painting in the 1980’s. He participated multiple times in dOCUMENTA and the Venice Biennale and has been the subject of numerous major museum exhibitions worldwide. He was the recipient of several prestigious awards and honors including the Golden Lion 1986, the Erasmus Prize 1994, the Carnegie Prize 1995, Praemium Imperiale Prize for Painting 2002 and Roswitha Haftmann Prize 2010.  Recently, the Museum of Modern Art in New York presented “Alibis: Sigmar Polke 1963-2010,” a retrospective exhibition surveying the artist’s works across all media from throughout his career, traveling to Tate Modern in London and the Ludwig in Cologne.

Jörg Immendorff – Born in Bleckede, Germany in 1945 and dies in Düsseldorf, Germany in 2007. In 1964, was admitted to the Joseph Beuys’s class at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art where he first conceived his “Lidl” artworks. In the 70’s, Immendorff befriends A.R. Penck and his artwork shifts to a more overtly political tone. For the next decade, Immendorff held visiting professorships at a number of prestigious institutions in Europe, and in 1989 he became professor at the Städelschule, Frankfurt. In 1996, Immendorff is invited back to the Düsseldorf Academy of Art as a professor, and two years later is awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.  Major exhibitions devoted to Immendorff have traveled throughout Europe, Asia and the United States. Important exhibitions include Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam (1992); Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City (1994); Kuntsmuseum, Bonn (1998); Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (1999); and Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2005). The major retrospective Jörg Immendorff: Long Live Painting! is currently on view at Szépmüvészeti Muzeum, Budapest.

Albert Oehlen  – Born 1954, Krefeld, Germany. Studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst. From 2000-09 he was a professor of painting at the Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf. Recent solo exhibitions include Musée d’art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg (2002); “I know whom you showed last summer,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami (2005); “Réalité abstraite”, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris (2009); “Albert Oehlen-Werke aus der Sammlung,” Räume für Kunst (2010); Carré d’Art-Musée d’art contemporain de Nimes (2011); and “Malerei”, Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna (2013). His work was also included in the 2013 Venice Biennale. A solo exhibition of his work will open at the New Museum in New York in 2015.

John Stezaker – Born 1949 in Worcester, England. Stezaker has been exhibiting since 1969. An overview of his work was presented at the Whitchapel Gallery, London, in 2011, traveling travel to Musée d’Art Moderne- Grand Duc Jean (Mudam), Luxembourg, and the Kemper Museum, Washington University St. Louis, St. Louis. His works are in numerous public collections including of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Tate Collection, London, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He was the recipient of Deutsche Börse Prize for Photography in 2012.  Stezaker lives and works in London, England.

Rita Ackermann – Born in 1968 in Budapest, Hungary. From 1989 – 1992 Ackermann studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest then in 1992 she moved to New York to study at The New York Studio School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture (Hanes Foundation), where she currently lives and works. Ackermann’s selected solo exhibitions include “Meditation on Violence”, presented at Sammlung Friedrichshof, Burgenland, Austria (2014); “Negative Muscle”, Hauser & Wirth, New York NY (2013); “Rita Ackermann” at Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami FL (2012); “Bakos”, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary (2011); “Rita Ackermann and Harmony Korine: Shadow Fux”, Swiss Institute, New York, NY (2010); “Last Exit to Poitiers”, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France (2010); and “Marfa / Crash”, The Chinati Foundation, Marfa TX (2009) Ackermann has widely participated in group exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe including “Extreme Drawing: Ballpoint Pen Drawing Since 1950”, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield CT (2013); “Looking at Music: 3.0”, Museum of Modern Art, New York NY (2011); ‘“Tableaux”, Le Magasin, Grenoble, France (2011); “Street and Studio”, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria (2010); “Second Thoughts”, “Whitney Biennial”, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (2008); Hessel Museum of Art, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson NY (2008); “Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago IL (2007)/ In 2011, her monograph ‘Rita Ackermann’ (New York: Skira Rizzoli) was published. Selected public collections include Museum the Domein, Sittard, The Netherlands; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Zabludowicz Collection, London; Marieluise Hessel Foundation, Bard College, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami; Sammlung Hauser & Wirth, Henau, Switzerland; and Denver Art Museum, Logan Collection, Denver.

Harmony Korine – Harmony Korine was born in Bolinas, California in 1973. His films include Kids (1995, written by Korine, directed by Larry Clark); Gummo (1997); Julien Donkey-Boy (1999); Ken Park (2002, written by Korine, directed by Larry Clark and Ed Lachman); Mister Lonely (2007, written by Korine, co-directed with Avi Korine); Trash Humpers (2009); and Spring Breakers (2012). Solo and two-person exhibitions of his films, photographs, and paintings include; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium (2000); “Harmony Korine-pigxote”, Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, Nashville, TN (2009); and “Rita Ackermann and Harmony Korine: Shadow Fux”, Swiss Institute, New York (2010-2011). His work was included in “Présumés Innocents, l’art contemporain et l’enfance”, CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux (2001); “Beautiful Losers”, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center (2004); “SONIC YOUTH etc.: SENSATIONAL FIX”, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2009); and “Altars of Madness”, Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art contemporain (2013). Korine’s novel, A Crack Up at the Race Riots, was published by Mainstreet/Doubleday in 1998. Pass the Bitch Chicken: Christopher Wool & Harmony Korine, a book of collaborative images, was released by Holzwarth Publications in 2002. His work was included in the 50th Venice Biennale (2003). Korine lives and works in Nashville, Tennessee.

Michael Williams  – Born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, USA in 1978. Works by Michael Williams are included in the current exhibition, “The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World”, at the  Museum of Modern Art, New York NY. Recent exhibitions include solo showings at Michael Werner, London (2014); Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich (2014); CANADA, New York, New York (2013). Recent groups shows include “Comic Future”, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus (2014); and “Imaginary Portraits: Prince Igor”, Gallery Met at The Metropolitan Opera, New York (2014). A solo exhibition of his work will open at Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal in 2015. Williams currently lives and works in New York.

Raphaela Simon – Born 1986 in Villingen, Germany. Education 2009 – 2014 Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Class Prof. Peter Doig, 2013; Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, Class Prof. Günther Förg. Recent solo shows include “Time after Time”, Tom Dick or Harry, Düsseldorf (2014). Recent group shows include “lady work work”, Tramps, London (2014); “Jenseits der Bühne”, Klasse Peter Doig, Canongate Venture, Edinburgh (2013). Raphaela Simon lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.