Sigmar Polke Never Painted for Permanence, and Kenny Schachter Takes Him at His Word

Kenny Schachter's latest column looks at Sigmar Polke and the poisonous materials Polke brought into his work. At its center is something Polke once said: his paintings may sit in museum collections, but he did not mind if they came apart within two decades. Collectors and the institutions that care for pictures like these rarely hear an artist say that so plainly. It is a reminder that the materials were part of the work itself, and so was the chance that they would not last. Schachter ties that idea to a broader reflection on what it means to be normal.

With reporting from Artnet News.