HYLAND
The late Sigmar Polke (1941-2010) has often been
called an alchemist, given his impregnation of resin-
covered canvases with grains of meteorite or arsenic. But
the word applies to more than such paintings, for Polke is
an artist whose entire oeuvre constitutes a mercurial series
of transformations, a wizard's rapid-cycling through many
moods and media. The current retrospective at MOMA,
one of the largest ever launched at the museum, organized
in collaboration with the Tate Modern, London where it
will later be on view, is entitled "Alibis," a telling name
Untitled, c. 1975, Gelatin silver print
© 2014 Estate of Sigmar Polke/ Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
