Published by Hatje Cantz. Text by Oliver Koerner von Gustorf, Norman Rosenthal.
Leading the Junge Wilden turn toward expressive, subjective art in the late 1970s in Germany, German painter Rainer Fetting (born 1949) is known for his colorful, gestural paintings. This publication focuses on the motif of the flower in his work.
Published by DuMont. Text by Jan Hoet, Arie Hartog.
A star of the circle around the “am Moritzplatz” gallery in the late 1970s, and a member of the “Junge Wilde” generation of German painters, Rainer Fetting (born 1949) developed a style of representational painting characterized by strong color schemes and fierce brushwork, that became popular in Italy and Germany in the early 1980s. This is the first comprehensive monograph on his work.
Published by Kerber. Text by Jürgen Fitschen, Arie Hartog.
With a Degas-like enthusiasm for distended gesture, Rainer Fetting (born 1949) produces bronze sculptures of men in various states of everyday posture. The title (Return of the Giants) is taken from a new series of 30 figures (the "giants" in question are the painters Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, politicians and nude men).
This collection of paintings and photographic studies by Berlin-based artist Rainer Fetting captures Malibu surfers, Santa Monica pelicans, bathers, waders and other explicitly or vaguely aquatic scenes in lush, immediate strokes.
Surfers, and not the Internet kind, compose the majority of Rainer Fetting's latest group of paintings, set amid the sunny environs of Venice Beach, California (in contrast to his more typical urban subjects). Surfing as a subject of art has made a comeback worthy of Brian Wilson's Smile, as seen in Catherine Opie's photographs and Robert Longo's recent paintings, among others. Fetting's thick paint applied in simple adjacent lines flirts with abstraction but also conveys the power of waves, with matchstick-bodied surfers at nature's mercy. At other times, single firgures balancing on boards playfully allude to Botticelli's “The Birth of Venus” and Dufy-esque views from a beachside hotel capture California colors in a testament to the painter's versatility. And what's more Californian than a sunset--over a car?
Rainer Fetting
Rainer Fetting: Return of the Giants
Rainer Fetting: Waters
Rainer Fetting: Los Angeles Surfscapes