Untitled, 1996

Martin Kippenberger portrayed himself in a variety of media – from painting to sculpture – throughout his career. His untitled print from 1996 references one of his most famous self-portraits in painting. The image of himself in over-sized underpants is a variation on an image that became like an obsession for him: a 1962 photograph of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), which to Kippenberger represented masculinity, the inevitability of aging, and the power of artistic fame.

Bringing a small-scale photograph of his recent self-portrait to the printmaking studio, he sketched a preliminary drawing of the image which was then transferred onto a photogravure plate. Working with brush and acid, he then added a second, painterly layer to a copperplate. Like in the painting which inspired the print, Kippenberger undermines the traditional notion of the self-portrait and exposes his body, marked by decades of alcohol abuse and excess, to the voyeuristic gaze of the viewer with astonishing honesty and vulnerability.