Untitled (Lens Painting) 2007

Editor: This is Sigmar Polke's "Untitled (Lens Painting)" from 2007. It's a mixed-media work, and immediately, the clashing patterns jump out. It's almost chaotic, but somehow...controlled? What do you see in this piece? Curator: Chaos, yes! Controlled chaos, like a wonderfully unruly garden. Polke was always poking fun at conventions, you know? This piece... it feels like a visual representation of trying to tune a faulty television. Editor: A faulty television? That's interesting. The geometric shapes definitely have a static quality. Curator: Exactly! And look at the white "lens" shapes overlaid. It’s almost like he’s inviting us to try and focus, but on something fundamentally unfocusable. He messes with perception. Editor: The lens...it looks like something smeared, not precise at all. Curator: Precisely! Nothing is resolved here. Polke wants to resist easy answers. To challenge us to create our own meaning, or, you know, to just embrace the fuzz! Editor: So, it's not about finding the perfect picture, but appreciating the... static? Curator: Exactly! Maybe the beauty is *in* the interference, in the tension between order and disorder. That tension – I think it’s a pretty accurate reflection of the world, don't you think? Editor: I think so! I'll never look at TV static the same way again. Thank you! Curator: My pleasure! It's amazing what looking a bit longer, letting the image wash over us, can reveal. Even from a static-y picture.