Galerie Ludorff in Düsseldorf is initiating a series of exhibitions which begin with the show "Cutting Edge”. Utilizing artist spaces as a format, the series of exhibitions is devoted to the differences and similarities of various artistic positions. The gallery presents three painters: Josef Albers, Winfred Gaul and Imi Knoebel, whose works mainly focus on the liberation of color.

In "Cutting Edge”, the colored squares of Bauhaus artist Josef Albers encounter the analytical paintings of Düsseldorf artist Winfred Gaul, leading a swift dialogue with Imi Knoebel's typical joyous color vocabulary. All three artists have the stencil-like geometric shape in common, with hard edges and sharply delineated applications of color. The immediate effect of color phenomena on the viewer stands here in the foreground.

However, the artistic intentions and working methods of the three artists from different generations are very different: While Imi Knoebel works on overcoming Malewitsch’s black square in his overall work and conceptualizes the dispute of painting in space as a central point in his artistic oeuvre, Albers experiments with the effect of color and shape and the relationship between surface and line. With the infinite repetition of a singular thought-form, Albers laid the foundation for seriality in painting. The painter Winfred Gaul, born in Düsseldorf in 1928, is one of the most important, though "silent" German painters of the post-war era. In 1959 and 1977 he was represented at Documenta in Kassel. "The color is not only an indispensable element of painting, it is it’s essence," comments Gaul about his work, in which he tries to visualize the nuances of color that are indescribable in language.

Approximately 25 works by Josef Albers, Winfred Gaul and Imi Knoebel will be shown at the "Cutting Edge" exhibition, from September 9th, 2017 to January 27th, 2018 at Galerie Ludorff in Düsseldorf. Presenting three positions that show the potential of non-representational painting in different ways, this exhibition concretizes the effect of color and questions our visual habits as viewers.