The monumental project GENESIS is the starting point, for which Lüpertz created 14 large-format ceramic panels for different subway stations in Karlsruhe. The thematic proposal and the execution of this project are the nexus of the work that now makes up this exhibition. Freely and personally interpreting the biblical account of creation and also inspired by the epic of Gilgamesh, Lüpertz concentrates the fundamental content of this body of work, consisting of woodcuts – lithographs, and original graphite drawings on acetate paper. The drawings precede the serialised work that constitutes the artistic portfolio ‘Genesis’ :14 woodcut lithographs accompanied by texts written by Markus Lüpertz (extracts from the diary of Genesis) as well as original fragments of the Poem of Gilgamesh*

Classical antiquity and its art, as well as the history of Western art, exert a profound influence on the work of the German artist. In this case, the Poem of Gilgamesh, the oldest known epic work, written in verse and consisting of five independent poems, has as its protagonist King Gilgamesh, who embarks on a personal journey in search of immortality after the loss of his friend and fellow adventurer Enkidu. The encounter with the evidence of his human and mortal condition gives him an irremediable approach to existential questions related to the inexorable passage of time, the futility of life and worldly pleasures in the face of death and its certainty. The hymn to friendship and the exaltation of brotherly love are included as sentimental cores in the verses of this literary epic.

Lüpertz directs his gaze towards the history of creation and represents it through this series, in which the identity expressionism of his work is manifested both in the stroke of his drawings and in the graphic work color’s choice.The skill with which the artist combines the techniques of woodcut and lithography results in a work in which Lüpertz suggests an archaic theme and invites interpretation through a clearly recognisable language.

Markus Lüpertz lives and works between Berlin, Düsseldorf and Karlsruhe. In 2004, Lüpertz opened the first space of Kewenig in Palma de Mallorca, located in the street of Forn de la Glòria. In 2015, he presented 'Herkules', based on the bozzetti of the artist's largest sculpture to date. In recent years, his work has been presented at the Hirshhorn Museum and the Phillips Collection, Washington DC; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Kunst-und Austellungshalle der Bundersrepublik Deutschland, Bonn; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; The Hermitage State Museum, St. Petersburg; Moscow Museum of Modern Art; and Palazzo Loredan, Venice.

*The first, fifth, and tenth tables, translated here by Stefan M Maul and published in the magazine C.H. Beck Verlag Munich 2005.

KEWENIG PALMA has the support of Consell de Mallorca for the realisation of this exhibition.