Ikarus

Otto Greis belonged to a generation of artists who explored new expressive possibilities after World War II. Having first begun to paint figuratively, his figures later increasingly dissolved into powerfully moving compositions. Wild, dark masses of paint determine the picture surface, creating an impression of depth. Here, a new artistic conception generates tension and drama, with the artist submitting his feelings to the canvas in a spontaneous and seemingly uninhibited fashion through the use of rapid gestures.

This style of painting put Greis at the forefront of contemporary developments and contributed to the establishment of Informal Art in Germany—a category that brought together abstract currents which rejected traditional formal and compositional strategies. »Icarus« is a high point in this development, with only the title still referring to the classical motif. Although we can no longer recognize the tragic figure of Greek antiquity, who crashed into the sea with his self-made wings after flying too close to the sun, the turbulences of Icarus’s fall are manifested in the dynamic manner of painting. Greis would later abandon his somber palette, with the pictorial space becoming brighter and airier and no longer dominated by accumulations of paint.