The Cartoonmuseum Basel is celebrating its 30th anniversary with two exhibitions: “Hurzlmeier. Meisterwerke der komischen Periode” is the first show in Switzerland of this internationally-famous German artist’s large paintings. “Frisch gestrichen” is a selection of art parodies from the museum’s own collection. Rudi Hurzlmeier, born in Kloster Mallendorf in Lower Bavaria in 1952, lives and works in Munich as an artist, draughtsman, cartoonist and author. Hurzlmeier is a founder of Comic Painting and one of its main representatives. In his paintings he plays a virtuoso game with the discrepancy between his Old Master’s style of painting and his comic, often absurd, mostly grotesque, sometimes also macabre motifs. From the nude to the landscape, the history painting and the portrait to the still-life, no genre of classical painting is beyond his iconoclastic grasp. By consistently circumventing all clichés and expectations, Hurzlmeier provokes astonishment, irritation and ultimately amusement in his viewers.
Curator: Anette Gehrig