Gyntiana - The Birth of Onionman 1992

Jorg Immendorff's ‘Gyntiana - The Birth of Onionman’ is a real trip, right? I can only imagine how many layers of paint and thought went into this piece. The painting almost seems to have come into being through some kind of alchemical reaction of trial, error, and pure artistic instinct. I think that Immendorff might have been wrestling with some serious questions about identity, maybe feeling a bit like an onion himself, with layers upon layers to peel back. The paint is applied with a feverish intensity, each stroke loaded with intention, and the textures all have so much to say. I imagine this scene as a kind of distorted mirror reflecting back at us, asking us to consider what makes us who we are, while also relating to earlier traditions, like German Expressionism. Immendorff is inviting us to participate in an ongoing conversation about art, politics, and what it means to be human. Painting, at its best, is a form of embodied expression. Immendorff embraces the ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations, and showing us that there is so much more to art than fixed or definitive readings.