Martin Denker • Realität de Luxe

Essay by Franz-Xaver Schlegel

German artist Martin Denker gathers massive amounts of material and digitally combines layers of optical imagery to create dense psychedelic collages. Denker uses appropriation and photomontage to create his explosive imagery, which straddles Surrealism, Pop, and psychedelia. Working much like a deejay, Denker samples from news clippings, film stills, magazines, tabloids, graffiti, architecture, advertising, and his own imagery. He manipulates these clippings through a series of rigorous digital transformations into endless layers of color and texture. He has described his work as “an optical paranoia, as if Goya had a Playstation, van Gogh a laptop, and Picasso a mobile [phone] with camera and all.” Selected collections include Proskauer & Rose, NY; Rossi Collection, Zurich/London/ St.Moritz; MR Company Collection, Nuremberg, Germany; Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Los Angeles; Simon de Pury, London; Ariadne Getty-Williams, London; and Emir of Qatar, Doha. Martin Denker studied under Thomas Ruff and is an assistant of Andreas Gursky.

Hardcover: 48 pages
Publisher: Salon; Edition: 1st, (23 January 2006)
Language: German, English
ISBN 10: 3897702495
ISBN 13: 978-3897702493
Product Dimensions
Weight: 1 lbs

Artwork and Information

Martin Denker