Georg Karl Pfahler was a painter who created abstract compositions that investigate the relationship between color, shape and space. As a retrospective exhibition on the often-overlooked German artist, Hong Kong’s Simon Lee Gallery is showcasing a series of his work made between 1965 and 1975.
Pfahler was one of the first hard-edge painters in Europe and took inspiration from the European tradition of Art Informel. Similar to Josef Albers and John McLaughlin across the Atlantic, Pfahler went down his own path by creating action paintings within paintings, where vibrant colors compete against one another for compositional dominance. Orbit I and Metro BB II demonstrate the artist’s ability to balance this tension subtly through rounded edges that counteract the hard contours of the coinciding shapes.
Though abstracted on first glance, his shapes were often inspired by real-world events, such as the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Pfahler kept his forms as simplified as possible to allow the viewer to ascribe their own personal meaning. The exhibition is on view at Simon Lee Hong Kong until January 22.
In other art news, USPS honors sculptor Edmonia Lewis in a new stamp.
Simon Lee Gallery
304, 3/F The Pedder Building
12 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong
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