Author Description

Herbert Döring-Spengler (b. 1944 in Cologne) is one of the most distinguished Polaroid artists of the present day. The instant image is not his only means of expression, but it is indeed his central one. Döring-Spengler is not concerned with capturing reality or with surfaces, but rather with fundamental issues. By intervening massively in the development process, the artist distorts and reveals at the same time. Nudes and portraits are merely vague labels to describe his for the most part serially conceived works, which consistently touch on central questions of our existence. Hardly any other postmodern artist has made such radical use of the Polaroid as a pictorial medium against the background of his own painful experiences. The publication, which encompasses all major groups of works, is being published on the occasion of the awarding of the Rhenish Art Prize 2020 to Herbert Döring-Spengler. Exhibition: LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn, Germany (28.10.2021-23.01.2022) / in focus Galerie, Köln, Germany (15.01.-19.03.2022).