Untitled, 1990

Untitled, 1980s, finished 1990, Paint on canvas, 144 × 124 cm

Part of a large series of paintings begun in the early 1980s, and in some cases completed in the early 1990s, these paintings explore themes intrinsically linked to the motif of the cross (as an intersection between life and death but also as an interruption of a line of continuity), the barrier or border (thus questioning the division imposed by the wall), and dissolve into abstract details of scratches and graffiti that seem to mimic spontaneous gestures on that very same surface of the separating wall.

(…) The dissolution of the GDR did not eradicate instruments of power but replaced them over the course of the 1990s. Politicians sold off state assets under the mantra that “there is no alternative” and implemented an economic shock doctrine designed to make the market the chief arbiter of social worth. Cynically appealing to the Vaterland, they fueled new waves of nationalism that Rehfeldt had, in his own small ways, worked against. Unsurprisingly, the spectacle of Einheit was on full display on the eve of 3 October 1990, when the two Germanys were officially unified. Amidst the speeches and fireworks at the Reichstag around midnight, the black, red, and gold of the West German flag was displayed as a symbol of egalitarian freedom, even if, as playwright Heiner Müller had caustically remarked at the end of the previous year, “democracy has no roots in the FRG.” While that provocative claim remains up for debate, signs of anti-democratic forces could also be seen in the crowd. Some individuals waved the Reichskriegsflagge of the German Empire, its black, white, and red comprising a potent symbol adopted by increasingly violent right-wing groups. Amidst that epochal upheaval, this painting appears as a cipher. The bands of color that divide the painting loosely invert those of flags from the imperial era. With that maneuver, Rehfeldt signals distress in the FRG, or, perhaps, issues an oblique warning against xenophobia. As artists, critics, activists, and scholars face renewed suppression, it bears recalling one of Rehfeldt’s most enduring statements: “Kunst ist wenn sie trotzdem entsteht.” (Inter Alios, Inter Alia: Robert Rehfeldt Between Mail Art and Painting – Christopher Williams-Wynn).