Artist: Georg Baselitz

Serpentine South and The Royal Parks

Serpentine presents its first solo exhibition of Georg Baselitz (born 1938 in Deutschbaselitz, Saxony). It includes a series of sculptures and drawings as well as a monumental nine-metre-tall sculpture Zero Dom (Zero Dome) within the Royal Parks, presented for the first time in the UK.

These pieces offer an intimate glimpse into the artist’s studio practice and explore the frailty of the body in relation to the highly physical and raw processes he employs to make the works.

The exhibition follows a long history of presenting sculpture inside its galleries and in the park including major shows of Henry Moore (1978), Anthony Caro (1984), Louise Bourgeois (1985)(her first in a UK institution), Alberto Giacometti and more recently Nairy Baghramian and Phyllida Barlow.

Accompanying the exhibition is a catalogue which includes newly commissioned texts by contemporary artists Alvaro Barrington, Huma Bhabha, Tracey Emin, Rashid Johnson, Jenny Saville, Erwin Wurm and Rose Wylie reflecting on Baselitz and how they connect to his work. Collectively, these contributions give the reader insights into how Baselitz’s distinctive practice has influenced and intrigued different generations of artists working across a variety of media. Noble laureate Herta Müller, and Norman Rosenthal wrote new poems in response to Baselitz’s sculptures while Michael Baxandall and Eric Darragon provide art historical contextualisation to this body of work. A section by Baselitz himself on his sculpture practice will also feature in the catalogue, as well as an interview between the artist and Hans Ulrich Obrist. It is designed by A Practice for Everyday Life.