MALCOLM GOMPF

The German-American conceptual artist Malcolm Gompf deals with painting in the field of tension between globalizing markets, the digitization of art, the artistic concept of the readymade and classic art historical positions. His current series is a commentary on cultural and industrial structures of appropriation in emerging digital dictatorships.

Reality vs. Metaverse – Copy vs. Fake. Malcolm Gompf transforms prominent works of art history into “highly pixelated” digital statements. Key works by Gerhard Richter, Jackson Pollock, René Magritte and Edward Hopper are no longer identifiable at first glance after the artistic transformation. However, despite the digital abstraction, the quality of the color harmony and composition of the masters remains noticeable.

In the next step, the digital image data is sent to randomly googled, changing Chinese service providers. These receive the unusual commission of reproducing the artist’s digital-abstract motifs in oil on canvas – these service providers usually produce lap dogs, cats or family portraits in Sunday suits. With this action, Malcolm Gompf reflects on the problems of originality and plagiarism in the world markets as well as the importance of quality craftsmanship and digitization in today’s concept of painting.

More: malcolmgompf.com – artsy – @malcolm_gompf