MORGAN FISHER - Monochrome for the Future

In 1970 Rolf Hoffmann – who had recently become managing director of the van Laack company in Mönchengladbach and would later become Chairman of Mönchengladbach’s Museum Association and, later still, a significant art collector in Cologne and Berlin – commissioned the artist Blinky Palermo (1943–1977), a resident of Mönchengladbach, to redesign his office. This request gave rise to a mural, created after much thought on the part of the artist, and installed in the office, where it remained for many years. Following the sale of the van Laack company in the late 1990s the mural was painted over and fell almost completely into oblivion. The original composition of the mural is still visible as a relief executed in dispersion paint.

The new owners of the building and the Museum Abteiberg are currently engaged in documenting this largely unknown mural work by Blinky Palermo.

The American artist Morgan Fisher (born in 1942 in Washington; lives and works in Los Angeles), agreed to cooperate on the venture, and was given the task of interpreting a largely unknown work, created when Palermo was almost the age Fisher is now. This prompted a major exhibition of the multi-medial oeuvre of filmmaker, conceptual artist and art historian Morgan Fisher : an artistic oeuvre that has consistently addressed the composition and impact of other works of art; and an artistic philosophy that subjects art history and its modern themes of abstract composition, colour and form to art-historical analysis. The Museum Abteiberg is the first to present such a comprehensive solo show. It brings together Fisher’s Structuralist films of the 1960–70s, his conceptual paintings, drawings, graphic work, and his writings on art theory; and a separate space is reserved for a new installation by Fisher, the first exhibit in the show, created in honour of Blinky Palermo. As the title “Monochrome for the Future” suggests, Morgan Fisher ’s complete oeuvre is didactic, enlightening and appellative in the most exciting way. It attests to the conviction that enlightenment makes sense: that we really should know how the various forms and compositions of creative forces take effect, and really should know what great prospects we have – still today – when we uphold the principles of the Enlightenment.   

Press Release

Artists: Morgan Fisher