manfred naescher

This is “All the Clothes of a Woman (Hans-Peter Feldmann)” , and it is the washy watercolor work of German artist Manfred Naescher. Yes, he repaints previously created artworks – from Jeff Koons to Leonora Carrington – and I love them all. Here is Manfred’s artist statement:

“There is a paradox at the core of my drawing practice: What I do is both image-making and the avoidance of image-making. I hesitate adding to the continuous flow of visual material that we are subjected to daily, hourly, near-permanently. The creation of images, in my practice, is little more than an intentional side effect of my interest in the reflection on existing imagery: What is the image? Where does it come from? Why do we make it? How does it change in time? My work starts and ends with source material (usually from art history, that is, from the history of imagemaking or its margins): The source imagery remains clearly visible in the drawings, often placed at the center of the composition, isolated from its context, with an outline — a simple handdrawn line — providing clarity and sharp contours against the background of an indistinct cloud, inside of which digital image production is increasing at accelerating pace.”

… and here is the 1973 inspiration for these seventy paintings, titled “All the Clothes of a Woman” – a photographic series by German artist Hans-Peter Feldmann: