* 1953 in Dortmund (DE), † 1997 in Vienna (AT)

Ohne Titel, 1990

Regarded as one of the most outstanding figures in the history of German contemporary art, Martin Kippenberger, who died in his forties, always shocked his audiences through his provocative, humoristic and sarcastic works of art. His infamous and eccentric life-style, coupled with unpredictable and multimedia artistic productions, propelled him into legendary status, a status, moreover, which continues to evolve.
This Untitled series, better known as the Hotel Drawings, consists of hundreds of drawings made on hotel stationary over the last ten years of the artist’s life. Although Kippenberger often spent several months in the same hotels, he never used notepaper from the hotels in which resided, but rather used notepads picked up at various locations. The series as a whole comprises sketches and studies for projects that highlight the transitory and paradoxical value of art. Furthermore, considering the paper not just as a blank page, nor as a neutral base for art, Kippenberger converted a traditional rough material into a proper artistic medium. As reinterpreted forms of ready-mades, the Hotel Drawings could be perceived as an ironic, but also biographical commentary on the contemporary art system, where the artist is both subject and object. (SG)