The controversial German artist has taken over all four galleries at White Cube Bermondsey for an exhibition of his paintings and sculpture.
His signature style of scratchy portraiture returns and it’s captivating. Works are upside down or have their heads missing, cut off as if there was insufficient room to fit it in to the work.
The bodies can be sickly yellow or a pink too bright to be natural. It’s the human form in all its vulnerability. Baselitz is the closest artist we have to a modern day Schiele.
There are small works on display and some massive ones in the cavernous South Gallery II. But it’s the smaller works that have the most impact, the larger paintings lack the detail and intimacy that gives their smaller cousins the edge.
We are also treated to bronze sculptures that perfectly complement the paintings around them, seeming to become more human in their form when placed in front of the wall based works.
The massive White Cube gallery in Bermondsey is at its best when entirely dedicated to one artist, and it delivers here with a museum quality exhibition.
Georg Baselitz: We’re off is on at White Cube, Bermondsey until 3 July.
