"It is the process in itself that interests me. The painting is not really necessary. The unpredictable turns out to be most interesting. " (Sigmar Polke)
It is this processuality that Polke also explores in his "Farbproben," (Colour Samples) which he has been making since the 1970s. Here he experiments with earths, chemicals, and pigments, observing their transformation on the painting support, depending on the state into which the artist has placed them. Just as with colours, Polke has always experimented with different painting techniques and combined them on the picture carrier.
The present work "Goldhaar" (Gold Hair) from 1999 also shows how multi-layered Polke brings colours and forms into an artistic context.
At the centre of the composition is an elongated form sprayed with gold paint, whose excess colour the artist has allowed to spill out in different directions, so that fine ramifications have formed. Corresponding to this are the thin, white lines, which on the left side of the picture over a fog-like grey sprayed background spun into a fine grid. These are interrupted by traces scratched with the back of a brush onto the still damp background, which Polke accentuates with neon yellow in the centre.
The lower area of the painting is defined by a violet colourfulness: the gouache, applied with a broad brush, dilutes towards the centre in a watercolour-like manner. Above this, Polke sprays two blue circular forms with a three-dimensional character that seem to open up towards the back and appear to break through the picture support.
