About the Work
In this painting, printed fabrics serve as the canvas. The lengths of cloth belong to the world of commercial aesthetics, which in turn quotes modern art. On the fabric, Polke has painted three scenes adopted from an advertisement, including a 1960s middle-class married couple who appear to be having an argument, and an elegantly dressed gentleman who features many times over in the painting. Elements like these can be understood as critical allusions to a narrow-minded middle-class culture. The man in the suit leads our gaze around the painting as he rotates his way through the pictorial space, ultimately standing on his head as a faded copy of himself. In other words, there is no single valid perspective – either on society or on this painting. Polke thus sets in motion not only the protagonists on the canvas, but also the viewer’s thoughts.
