Vertigo 1988

Gunther Forg made this artwork, Vertigo, with paint on canvas. The word ‘vertigo’ suggests a kind of dizziness, and I get that sense looking at this piece. The four panels are almost identical but subtly different. In each, a dark rectangle, nearly black, looms large. Alongside, bright vertical stripes in hues of orange and blue jolt the eye. The paint is applied in visible strokes, so you can feel the hand of the artist. There’s a physicality to the medium, a sense of the push and pull of the brush. Look closely at the top left panel and you can see Forg has allowed some lighter under layers to show through. It reminds me of Josef Albers' color studies where he played with how colors interact and shift. Forg invites us to embrace the ambiguity of seeing, reminding us that meaning is never fixed.