Text by Hannah Klemm and an in-conversation with Andrea Schlieker
Edited by Elaine Tam
Designed by Carlos Romo-Melgar and John Philip Sage
Printed by Pureprint, Sussex
260 × 210 mm, softback
128 pages
ISBN 978-1-910844-56-4
Published by White Cube 2022

Published to accompany ‘Paintings 1974–1990’, an exhibition on the late German artist A.R. Penck at White Cube Mason’s Yard, London, this monograph spotlights 18 paintings by the artist, and two lesser-known Super 8 films he made in collaboration with director Wolfgang Opitz.

Testifying to Penck’s assertion that art should be for everyone, the works mobilise the artist’s unique concept of Standart (a portmanteau of ‘standard’ and ‘art’) and are complemented by an in-depth 3,500-word essay by Hannah Klemm, which illuminates the extent of Penck’s work and thinking. At the back-of-book, an in-conversation with Andrea Schlieker, originally published in Artscribe in 1983, has been re-printed to lend insight to the artist in his own vernacular.

Hannah Klemm completed her PhD thesis on A.R. Penck and is Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri. Andrea Schlieker is Director of Exhibitions and Displays, Tate Modern, London.

The publication is designed by Carlos Romo-Melgar and John Philip Sage and features paintings with full-bleed details in vivid colour, as well as two text sections printed in duo-tone. Inspired by Penck’s tenacity and pursuit of art outside the academy, the publication is Swiss bound and opens to reveal a portrait of the artist on the inner cover, as well as a quote running along an exposed thread spine.