Schreitende (Striding) 1989

Michael Morgner made this artwork, Schreitende, using mixed media on paper. The sombre palette, mostly monochrome, gives the impression of something half-remembered, a fading photograph perhaps. But the frenetic mark-making throws this into tension; it feels so alive and present. Morgner’s artmaking feels like an urgent act of excavation. Look at the skeletal figure in the center. It’s a strange presence, seemingly flayed or made of wire, yet upright, striding forward, a fist clenched at its side. I think of it as a metaphor. Artmaking, for me, often feels like piecing together fragments, a kind of intuitive archaeology. Marks are made, then obscured, then revealed, as if in search of an elusive truth. I am reminded of Nancy Spero's figurative works. Both artists use the body to convey something about the experience of trauma. But unlike Spero, Morgner’s image, with its gestural abstraction, feels less narrative, more like a raw, visceral scream.