In this painting, based on the YBA classic “Self Portrait with fried Eggs” by Sarah Lucas, German artist Axel Bottenberg has inserted himself into the image - minus the fried eggs, plus a gun. This is one of Bottenberg’s many Ronald McDonald style self-portraits, in which Bottenberg photobombs popular cultural icons in the style of artist Cindy Sherman.
- Dimensions: 102 x 150 x 5cm
- Price: £4400.00
A direct reference to Sarah Lucas’ YBA classic “Self Portrait with Fried Eggs”, German artist Axel Bottenberg has directly inserted himself into the iconic image - minus the fried eggs, plus a gun. Bottenberg is renowned for his kitsch pop culture and art historical references, communicated through painting, sculpture and drawing. A reference to his student days, this piece is a painted pastiche of the original photograph. However, in Bottenberg's rendition, he has painted in new objects such as a gun, and removing a key part of the original piece – the fried eggs. Adopting Lucas’ exact pose on the chair, Bottenberg has re-contextualised this piece with the feature of the disturbing Ronald McDonald clown face, which is a recurring icon throughout his work. Bottenberg is obsessed with McDonald's as a cultural phenomenon, and embeds this imagery into his work as a commentary on the rise of global capitalism and mass consumerism in the 1980s, the time in which he studied alongside the YBAs (Young British Artists) at the Royal College of Art. “If you’re going to rip someone else’s art off, you should at least make the effort” Studying in this environment inevitably had an impact on Bottenberg’s oeuvre, charging it with irony and social commentary. Graduating in 1989 with a degree in printmaking, Bottenberg’s practice has blossomed into an unusual yet exciting body of work, tackling a variety of subject matter. This clown-face imagery draws parallels to many of Bottenberg’s other works, where he has included kitsch pop culture references in the style of artist Cindy Sherman, reflecting the artists’ sense of humour and brazen attitude. Bottenberg's works are opinionated, stimulating, and always find ways to contrast high and low art to provoke response and shock factor. Bouncing off of popular culture, Bottenberg's works maintain a distinctive accessibility and familiarity which make them entertaining to a wide audience, as opposed to only the (often exclusionary) art world. This is an exciting piece that is full of vigour, making it a perfect addition to any contemporary art collection.
Axel Bottenberg is a mixed media artist who works to create bright, compelling compositions which blur the boundaries of painting and sculpture. Born in 1961 in Darmstadt, Germany, Bottenberg studied Fine Art and Printmaking at the Canterbury College of Fine Art, and later Printmaking at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London. Bottenberg is now based at Bankley Studios in Levenshulme, Manchester, and is renowned for challenging the sphere of contemporary art through his practice. Bottenberg's oeuvre is imbued with entertaining pop culture and art historical references, and his works often reject art tradition through juxtaposing high and low art iconographies. Bottenberg is heavily inspired by 1960s Pop Art and its resurgence in the 1990s, which he portrays through his own eclectic lens and bold colour palette. Bottenberg's researched approach gives scope for sardonic appraisals within a varied, eccentric body of work. Any piece from Axel Bottenberg's oeuvre would be a valuable and compelling asset to any contemporary art collection, business space or home.
Other images of Self Portrait without Fried Eggs by Axel Bottenberg