Flipper, 1969

About the Work

Rubber dolphins and ducks, plastic hearts and cars: the canvas-filling objects populating Christa Dichgans' paintings are toys, as is the case here in 'Flipper'. Set against a background which has been divided in two is a grey dolphin. It is unclear whether this is a specific place or an abstract coloured space. The seams joining together the individual plastic elements seem to be tightly stretched. The surface of the painting looks smooth, almost polished, and the features are strongly stylised with precise brushstrokes. The dolphin is a familiar object, yet it retains a vague hint of strangeness: the rubber dolphin is also a symbol of the encroaching world of media and consumerism, a symbol of excess.