Alibis: Sigmar Polke 1963–2010 - Tapa dura

The catalogue of the current retrospective, "Alibis: Sigmar Polke, 1963-2010," mounted by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Modern in London, includes numerous scholarly essays by art historians and curators along with illuminating appreciations by artists. It seems that once the artist was no longer around to refuse to answer questions or guard his privacy, his audience was granted permission to dig into his history, to turn over every rock, or, to use an especially Polkian metaphor, to go hunting for the mushroom that will provide magical revelations.--Raphael Rubinstein "Art in America "

"Alibis: Sigmar Polke 1963-2010," a wondrous retrospective of the late German artist's work at the Museum of Modern Art, is the most dramatic museum show of the century to date. It may also be the most important, if its lessons for contemporary art, both aesthetic and ethical, are properly absorbed.--Peter Schjeldahl "The New Yorker "

This year's Sigmar Polke retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, the first full-scale evaluative look at this German artist since his death in 2010, was one of the outstanding solo shows of the year. The catalog is fully up to the occasion, a fitting souvenir of an artist who, in our era of look-at-me objects and brand-name painting, stayed mercurial, slippery, slef-mocking and signature-free. With the market being the luxe-item operation it is, you can easily imagine Polke's recessive reputation going into temporary eclipse. So grab the book now. It's a keeper.--Holland Cotter "The New York Times "

Surelly on of the towering figures of postwar art, Polke (1941- 2010) is feted here in a major retrospective, spanning nearly five decades of his prodigious output from his days as cofounder of Capitalist Realism (along with Gerhard Richter and Konrad Lueg) until his death three years ago.--Howard Halle "Time Out New York "

Polke (1941-2010) is feted here in a major retrospective, spanning nearly five decades of his prodigious output- from his days as cofounder of Capitalist Realism (along with Gerhard Richter and Konrad Lueg) until his death three years ago.--Howard Halle "Time Out New York "

The Museum of Modern Art has now brought together, in one of the largest shows it has assembled, the most complete overview of Polke's art that any museum has attempted. It is a remarkable and challenging event. Polke was funnier, brainier, and more ferocious in his need to experiment than, it can seem, many artists are... The present show, organized by Kathy Halbreich, who began working with the artist on it in 2008 (and has contributed a probing and sensitive essay in the catalog), underscores the multifariousness of Polke's art by presenting aspects of seemingly everything he did.--Sanford Schwartz "The New York Review of Books "

In the book's lead essay, curator Kathy Halbreich proposes that Polke studiosly avoided any signature style or medium "so that his easthetic method...enacted the role of an alibi..". And Polke's work is self-evidently open, experimental, and reveling in possibility.--Christopher Lyon "Bookforum "

His paintings...re-enchant the world of images and the possibilities of picture-making.--Maika Pollack "New York Observer "

...one of postwar Germany's most important artists.--Ted Loos "Art & Antiques "

Germany produced at least one comic genius in the 20th century, as MoMA's Sigmar Polke retrospective demonstrates.--David Salle "Town & Country "

Working across an unusually broad range of media, including painting, photography, film, drawing and sculpture, Sigmar Polke (German, 1941–2010) is widely regarded as one of the most influential and experimental artists of the post-war generation. Published in conjunction with an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, this richly illustrated publication provides an overview of Polke’s cross-disciplinary innovations and career. It features more than 500 illustrations and 18 contributions by scholars and artists that examine the full range of Polke’s exceptionally inventive oeuvre. Authors such as exhibition curators Kathy Halbreich, Mark Godfrey and Lanka Tattersall, artists John Kelsey and Jutta Koether, and renowned professors Benjamin Buchloh and Christine Mehring discuss a wide range of topics that include Polke’s engagement with German history, abstraction and the paranormal, his continuous questioning of conventional artistic disciplines and social norms, and his experiments with materials and tools as diverse as toxic pigments, patterned fabrics, images taken from a vast range of sources, and the Xerox machine. Four lead essays trace broad themes in Polke’s work across mediums and across his career, while twelve shorter texts each focus on a single work or aspect of Polke’s practice, which allows for a concentrated consideration of critical issues such as Polke’s use of language or textiles that have never been discussed before in any depth. A richly illustrated chronology presents a cultural frame for Polke’s work and an interview with Benjamin Buchloh offers insight on Polke’s first retrospective, held in 1976. The catalogue includes contributions by a wide range of authors with great expertise, most of whom have never published on Polke before, thus broadening the scope of scholarship on Polke and offering new thinking about this chameleon-like artist.