Sigmar Polke, 1941–2010

Tragic news: the great German artist Sigmar Polke passed away last night at the age of 69, at his home in Cologne, after a long battle with cancer. He was one of the most inventive, daring, and humorous artists of our times. His paintings, films, books, sculptures, installations, are full of playful and imaginative ideas.
Polke was born in Oelsnitz in Lower Silesia. His family fled to Thuringia in 1945, and to West-Germany in 1953, eventually settling in Dusseldorf. Polke studied art at the Academy there, and in 1963 co-founded “Kapitalistischer Realismus” (Capitalist Realism) with Gerhard Richter and Konrad Lueg aka Fischer. 
The title of his 1969 painting “The Higher Powers Command: Paint the Upper Right Corner Black!” has long been a much-loved humorous way of describing artistic pretensions. His fearless irony was offset by a serious dedication to the alchemy of contemporary painting, which he boldly continued to explore in recent years. His contribution to art will be greatly missed.