Ohne Titel (Überschwemmung), 2000

About the Work

A red lifeboat is irretrievably adrift in the dirty high water of the Oder River. The realistic distant aspect collides with the painter’s attention to detail. Horizontal grey stripes of tape only partly covered with paint result in abstract lines. The point of view is familiar from images of catastrophes. Dirk Skreber pits disturbance and fear against beauty and a desire for looking. ‘Untitled (Flood)’ shows the ambivalence of media images towards virtuality and reality. Formally, the interplay of abstraction and figuration in Skreber’s painting reflects this phenomenon.