For twenty years, Rudolf Stingel (born Merano, Italy, 1956) has been striving to challenge the purity of the medium of painting. He describes all his works as paintings – whether they are abstract or photorealist canvases, carpets placed on the floor or hung from the wall, or even rooms lined with silvered isolating material – as he investigates some of the basic questions about a work of art’s authenticity, as posed by painting today.
He first delved into the essence of painting in his Instructions back in 1989, whose methodical approach provided a step-by-step outline for producing a ‘veritable Stingel painting.’ The manual,translated into several languages, aimed to enable anyone to create one of his paintings, thereby fighting against the cult of the individual artist. […]
