From a young age, Günther Förg, (1952-2013), was one of that new generation of German artists, alongside Baselitz, Lüpertz, Richter or Polke, who refused to consign painting to the ranks of outdated media. Consequently, Förg always tried to achieve in his works (paintings, papers, photos, sculptures) the greatest visual intensity with the minimum of means. What you see is what you get. There are no symbols, metaphors or hidden meanings (other than the many allusions to painters he appreciated, from Barnett Newman to Munch or Philip Guston to Matisse), just the manifestation of freedom, grace, simplicity and boldness.

Günther Förg exhibited at Galerie Lelong for the first time in 1997 with a group of paintings and sculptures entitled Make It New. Today, this small exhibition looks back over 20 years of close collaboration and presents a choice of works on paper, as well as bronzes from various periods, with the common denominator being the reflection of the artist’s sensitivity and his talent for the immediate transposition of his ideas.

Günther Förg was born in 1952 in Füssen, Germany and died on 5 December 2013 at Colombier in Switzerland. Key exhibitions include the Fondation Beyeler in Basle, the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, the Gemeentemuseum at The Hague and the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris. His work forms part of the collection of a number of museums including the Tate Modern in London, the Arken Museum of Modern Art in Denmark and the MOCA in Los Angeles.