Product Description

First substantial monograph from a North American Museum on the German artist. Trained at the Leipzig Academy in the Socialist Realist aesthetic of communist East Germany, Rauch was still in his twenties when the Soviet Union collapsed and Germany reunited. While never fully abandoning his formalist training, he has developed a unique painterly style that incorporates comic strip motifs and advertising imagery. Heroic workmen and sturdy women are depicted in harsh industrial colours with an almost cartoonish realism. Here is an obliquely-coded world of productivity without purpose. The fact that Rauch continues to live and work in Leipzig provides compelling insight into the artist s intent. Two essays look at recent works, magnificently illustrated in full-page colour plates. In English and French.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3728909 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03
• Original language: German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 248 pages

Review
Wolfsburg: Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg,11/11/06-2/11/07

About the Author
Neo Rauch has exhibited at David Zwirner (New York), Deutsche Guggenheim (Berlin) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles).

Customer Reviews

Rauch the Original
Neo Rauch has single handedly saved the art world, yet the art world is too stubborn to admit it. The same people, (critics and directors) who accepted and propelled this genius into the spotlight and made him a "darling", are the very same people who scrutinize his motives and the substance of his work. It seems that the austere "Artworld" in all its naval-gazing bloated self-importance is chronically addicted to the act of building an Artist up to simply tear them down. What more is needed to prove that this Artist is raw unadulterated talent? It is probably best that the "Artworld" elders, critics and entitled elitists remain nameless and faceless much like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain, less we discover how unqualified they truly are. It's been many years since the world has seen an Artist like Rauch, a genuine original committed to the task of painting with a solid work ethic. This book clearly shows his style progression and neatly fits the pieces together to explain how Rauch has arrived where he is today. When I first viewed a Rauch painting in 1999 I knew this painter was going to change the face of contemporary art, and not a moment too soon. I would also add the book "Neo Rauch" by Hatje Cantz to accompany this book if you can find it.

Endlessly and compellingly intriguing
I keep returning to this book over and over. I find Rauch's work endlessly and compellingly intriguing. A recent tribute to the late filmmaker Ingmar Bergman included the following description of Bergman that could easily apply to Neo Rauch: Kael had "observed that in much of his work 'the imagery derives its power from unconscious or not fully understood associations' that could cause Bergman to explain a scene by saying, 'It's just my poetry,'while leaving the viewer to wonder what he was trying to accomplish.'" With both Bergman and Rauch, you don't so much wonder "at" what they are trying to accomplish, as wonder "with" the artists at the mystery they've conjured.