GUNTER CHRISTMANN

 

  
 

 

Christmann's career has spanned more than forty years since he arrived in Sydney, from Berlin, in 1959. Though his work has moved through a number of different "phases", Christmann has maintained a fascination with the world around him – he feeds off contemporary life. This is manifest in his recent adoption of a ‘'tag" a graffiti style calligraphy that is drawn across his paintings, sometimes in almost obsessive repetition.


Christmann first came to prominence during the 1960s, exhibiting European inspired hard edged abstraction. Associated with the important Central Street Gallery, Christmann's work was included in the seminal The Field exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1968. Through this personal association with colourfield and hard edged painting, Christmann has created unique quotations and idiosyncratic variations on these styles in his later work. In a series exhibited at the Act XII: New Works on Paper exhibition, Christman ‘'tagged" colour photocopies of one of his paintings from 1967.

 

Christmann's paintings have featured in important exhibitions in Australia and overseas and he was chosen to represent Australia at the 1971 Sao Paulo Biennial. The National Gallery of Australia has a larger collection of works by Gunter Christmann than any other contemporary Australian artist. He currently resides in Sydney.