Martin Kippenberger

Martin Kippenberger, Happy to be Gay  1993

German artist Martin Kippenberger produced this poster in 1993 at a time when the artist was actively involved in raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic in Europe and the United States (for example, Kippenberger participated in the group show Drawing the Line Against AIDS at the AMFAR International in New York in the same year).

Martin Kippenberger, Anxiety  1989

German artist Martin Kippenberger produced this poster on the occasion of the exhibition Anxiety, staged with fellow artist Markus Oehlen in Innsbruck, Austria, in the summer of 1989.

Martin Kippenberger, This Fellow is Playing on Luxus  1979

This poster was produced in 1979 to promote ‘Luxus’, the first single of German artist Martin Kippenberger’s punk band Grugas. The ‘fellow’ depicted is band member Eric Mitchell.

Martin Kippenberger, This Woman is Playing on Luxus  1979

This poster was produced in 1979 to promote ‘Luxus’, the first single of German artist Martin Kippenberger’s punk band Grugas. The ‘woman’ depicted is Kippenberger’s fellow band member Christine Hahn.

Martin Kippenberger, This Man is Playing on Luxus  1979

This poster was produced in 1979 to promote ‘Luxus’, the first single of German artist Martin Kippenberger’s punk band Grugas. The ‘man’ depicted is Kippenberger.

Martin Kippenberger, Kippenberger on the Theme of Fucking, Boozing and Selling  1982

This poster was produced on the occasion of an exhibition of works by German artist Martin Kippenberger, held at the Studio F in Ulm, Germany, in 1982.

Martin Kippenberger, If You Need One, You Have to Bring One with You  1985

Though prolific as a painter, sculptor, musician and writer, the 178 posters created by German artist Martin Kippenberger throughout his career form a significant body of work. Normally created as screen prints or lithographs in standard advertisement sizes, they were used to promote a wide variety of events from art exhibitions to upcoming parties. From 1986 Kippenberger began to group his posters into folios, though these were united more by date than by similarity of style or function. This work forms part of the first folio, T.Ü., which stands for ‘Title Überflussig’ (Title Unnecessary). Published in 1986 in an edition of sixteen, each folio contained seventeen posters made between 1984 and 1986.

Martin Kippenberger, Candidature for a Retrospective  1993

This poster was one of two designs made by German artist Martin Kippenberger to accompany his exhibition of the same name, held at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, in the summer of 1993 (see also Candidature for a Retrospective 1993, Tate P79160).

Martin Kippenberger, The Eggman and his Outriggers  1997

The Eggman and His Outriggers was the title of an exhibition held at the Städtisches Museum Abteiberg in Mönchengladbach, Germany, between February and April 1997, and was Martin Kippenberger’s last exhibition before he died in March that year. Organised around the theme of the egg, the exhibition featured works of art as well as found and collected objects, many of which were displayed in glass vitrines that made reference to the work of another German artist Joseph Beuys (1921–1986).

Martin Kippenberger, Untitled (Big Fun / Süss Sexy Super)  1989

Martin Kippenberger, Pop Art Calendar  1991

Martin Kippenberger, Fred the Frog Rings the Bell  1990

Martin Kippenberger, Untitled (Invention of a Joke)  1991

Martin Kippenberger, Untitled  1989

Martin Kippenberger, The Raft of Medusa  1996

Martin Kippenberger, Under the Eiffel Tower in Tokyo Lukewarm  1990

Martin Kippenberger, Graphics I  1993

German artist Martin Kippenberger designed this poster on the occasion of an exhibition of graphic work by an international group of artists, staged in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1993. The reversed text reads ‘Es ist ein Segen, daß es uns gibt’ (It is a blessing that we exist), along with letters referring to the countries represented.

Martin Kippenberger, Nine Reasons to Raise the Prices  1987

This poster was produced to promote a lecture given by Martin Kippenberger and fellow German artist Albert Oehlen at the Art and Design School in Cologne on 9 November 1987. Standing in front of a boat that has run ashore, Oehlen and Kippenberger pose in oversized white underpants, with dressing gowns hanging over their left arms. The scene consciously recreates American photographer David Douglas Duncan’s 1962 photograph of the artist Pablo Picasso wearing similar attire, which became a symbol for Kippenberger of masculinity, the power of artistic fame, and the inevitability of aging (see, for example, I Could Lend You Something, But I Would Not Be Doing You Any Favours 1985, Tate P79090).

Martin Kippenberger, Matisse’s Studio Sublet to Spiderman  1996

This poster was produced by German artist Martin Kippenberger on the occasion of an exhibition staged at L’Atelier Soardi, Nice, in 1996.

Martin Kippenberger, This Guy is playing on Luxus  1979

This poster was produced in 1979 to promote ‘Luxus’, the first single of German artist Martin Kippenberger’s punk band Grugas. The ‘guy’ depicted is fellow band member Akim Schaechtele.

Martin Kippenberger, Buchholz Schipper  1990

German artist Martin Kippenberger produced this poster in 1990. Daniel Buchholz and Esther Schipper were two dealers and gallery owners active in the Cologne art scene during this period.

Martin Kippenberger, Please don’t sit on the Pictures  1996

This poster was produced by German artist Martin Kippenberger on the occasion of an exhibition held at Galerie Mikael Anderson, Copenhagen, in 1996.

Martin Kippenberger, Respective 1997 - 1976  1997

German artist Martin Kippenberger produced this poster on the occasion of his exhibition Respektive, held at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Geneva, Switzerland, between January and May 1997. Although the show succeeded in presenting a review of his career, and despite the fact that Kippenberger was terminally ill with cancer when the show opened, the artist steadfastly refused to take the notion of his own retrospective seriously: the title is Respective rather than ‘Retrospective’, the dates of his career have been reversed, and the close-up photograph of his face consciously theatrical.

Martin Kippenberger, This Band is Playing on Luxus  1979

This poster was produced in 1979 to promote ‘Luxus’, the first single of German artist Martin Kippenberger’s punk band Grugas. The four band members appear in the photograph: Kippenberger, Eric Mitchell, Akim Schaechtele and Christine Hahn.

Martin Kippenberger, Melancholy  1992

This poster was produced by German artist Martin Kippenberger on the occasion of the exhibition Documenta IX in Kassel in 1992.

Martin Kippenberger, Kippenberger / Géricault Memento Metropolis  1996

German artist Martin Kippenberger produced this poster on the occasion of his exhibition of the same name, held at the Hessenhuis in Antwerp, between February and May 1997. The exhibition comprised two parts: in one room Kippenberger reconstructed his 1994 installation The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s America (see Tate P79164), while in another he displayed a series of newly-made paintings and drawings based on Théodore Géricault’s 1819 painting The Raft of the Medusa, together with a copy of the painting made in 1860 by Pierre-Désiré Guillemet and Etienne-Antoine-Eugène Ronjat. Kippenberger’s poster recreates the split nature of the exhibition, showing elongated photographs of the two rooms side by side.