Head and Bottle 1982

Georg Baselitz made this print, Head and Bottle, using woodcut, a process that’s all about getting physical. You know, carving into wood, inking it up, pressing it onto paper – it’s immediate. Look at the way he’s gouged out the wood, leaving these raw, jagged lines. There's a tension between the yellow and black, the red feels like an after-thought, an extra layer of depth. Then there's this head, or is it a face in the bottle? It’s all kind of jumbled up, floating in a space that feels both claustrophobic and expansive. The black area in the top right corner is particularly interesting. It's not just a block of colour, but alive with texture. It makes me think of other German artists like Kirchner or Heckel. Their use of bold lines and clashing colours to convey a sense of angst and unease. But in the end it’s all just one big experiment, isn't it?