Neue Liebe II (New Love II)

Imi Knoebel’s Neue Liebe II (New Love II), 2002, is a four part ode to colour and geometry. Comprised of four brightly painted aluminium panels, each is framed by colourful bands painted in rose quartz, jungle green and calming blue. Although absent any recognizable figuration, this work is not entirely abstract, and the title suggests the highs and lows, both the excitement and the desperation, of new love; each frame a portal to an emotional unknown. Part painting, part sculpture, Neue Liebe II is a vibrant and playful exploration of colour’s dimensionality. Knoebel’s works, writes art historian Hubertus Graßner, ‘reach out into cosmic space…far exceeding the dimensions of a conventional indoor sculptural installation’ (H. Graßner, ‘Stellar Constellations’, Imi Knoebel: Works 1966- 2014, exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, 2014, p. 299). Neue Liebe II’s bright paint seemingly penetrates the viewer’s space, reminiscent of a light sculpture by Dan Flavin. Entranced by colour’s encounter with the material support, Knoebel’s geometric abstractions build on the legacy of Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich. He was especially inspired by Malevich’s Black Square, 1915, which gave him ‘the overwhelming feeling that I could start at nothing’ (I. Knoebel quoted in ‘Artist Imi Knoebel: ‘If you want to stay alive, you have to do something radical’, The Guardian, July 15, 2015). While Knoebel’s practice is rooted in the avant-garde, his visual vocabulary is very much his own, distinctly graphic and vivid. Certainly, Neue Liebe II extends beyond chromatic expectations projecting a new grammar of colour that saturates the room in radiant tones.