Untitled c. 1975

Here’s an untitled artwork by Arnulf Rainer: a photograph, reworked with paint. I’m picturing Rainer in his studio, the photo laid out, and then this primal urge to mark, to change, to *add* to the image... What was he thinking, though, as he slashed those dark strokes across the figure? Did he want to obliterate the identity, or transform it? Those gestures feel confrontational. Painting right over a photograph like this is really punk, and the contrast between the photographic image and those visceral brushstrokes creates a strange tension. It makes me think of other artists who work with collage and layering, like maybe Robert Rauschenberg, who was also interested in how different images and materials can collide and create new meanings. Painting can be a kind of conversation across time, and with this piece, Rainer is speaking to all those artists who came before and all who will come after. And that final, unreadable signature, almost scrawled in the upper corner – is that the final, defiant word?