Rainer Fetting lived and worked in New York between 1983 and 1994. During his time there he was inspired by the urban life of the city that never sleeps. He noticed one of New York’s most famous yet most recognisable symbols – the yellow taxicabs, and how they moved like a steady stream along the city streets.
‘Yellow Cab in Alleyway’ forms part of Fetting’s series ‘Taxi Pictures’ which he began working on in 1991. The images are expressive, the paintings characterised by a drive and an energy that brilliantly visualises the fast movement of the car. Similar paintings can be found in, amongst others, the collection of Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main.
In connection with the solo show ‘Taxis, Monsters and the Good Old Sea’ at the Albertz Benda Gallery in New York in 2017, Fetting recalled his time in New York:
“New York was very run down those days... different from anything civilized like it is now, and I tried to express a certain melancholy and loneliness, which maybe was also part of how I felt then.”
Rainer Fetting’s artistic practice was shaped by West Berlin in the 1970s. The city was the European focus of a new generation of artists and musicians ready to come to terms with the post-war period. The uninhibited nightlife, the young political and radical currents and not least the open gay scene came to define the city’s art world. Fetting arrived as a young artist and shortly thereafter opened the important gallery Galerie am Moritzplatz, together with people such as Salomé and Helmut Middendorf. He became one of the leading members of the artist groups ‘Heftige Malerei’ and ‘Junge Wilde’ (also called ‘Neue Wilde’), whose expressive painting was characterised by strong colours and wide, quick brushstrokes.
Contemporary Art & Design
Viewing: 5 – 9 November, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Open: Mon–Fri 11 AM – 6 PM, Sat – Sun 11 AM – 5 PM
Auction: 10 November, starts at 11 am, Arsenalsgatan 2, Stockholm
Catalogue online from 28 October