Auctions

With his series Auctions, Frank Gerritz (*1964 in Bad Oldesloe) not only provides a biting commentary on the panorama of the art market but also addresses the way in which values are attributed to contemporary art today. Covers of catalogues from major auction houses serve as his starting point and image carrier. The choice of motifs is not random but concentrates on the big names of the modern art scene, whose works are traded at top prices, and which are downright stylised as ‘brands’. His adaptations are overpaintings in which he leaves only small sections of the depicted works free and covers everything else with black paintstick, an oil and wax crayon, in his own strictly linear manner. In contrast to the smooth, four-colour background, the manually applied lines merge to form a haptic surface structure, whereby the motifs, mass-reproduced according to the contemporary demands of advertising and marketing, are transformed back into the uniqueness of a singular work of art. In addition, the motifs are given a new appeal: visualisation through concealment.