Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn. Photo: Paul Kalkbrenner

 

Walter Dahn (1954–2024) was an important influence on a generation of artists often referred to as the Neue Wilde, or New Fauves. A co-founder of the short-lived but significant Mülheimer Freiheit group and a pioneer of “Bad Painting”, he developed a way of painting that questioned the point of the medium. From the late 1980s, he continued his work in other media, screen prints in particular. His works, which have been described as a “synthesizing cultural anthropology,” insistently analyzed the visual ideologies of art and everyday culture.

 

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What unites Dahn’s large- and small-scale paintings from the early 1980s is their historically singular engagement with the medium of painting. Each of these works looks rapidly painted, even slapdash in their execution. Acrylic and emulsion paints ooze and drip, areas of color appear impulsively composed, and figurative elements are painted carelessly or presented as hastily sketched outlines. The subject matter is equally unkempt: skulls morph into peace signs or stare hungrily at a drink, bizarre body parts hold cigarettes, or a Beuysian hat might perch on a pole arrayed against an abyss. These paintings are also fueled by jokes and erratic slogans. They consider the figurative, but inevitably land in the realm of the grotesque and semi-obscene. They visually invoke emblems and attitudes of the punk movement while simultaneously poking fun at them. Dahn’s paintings seem opposed to everything. Paintings in spite of themselves, they bear witness to an extraordinary artistic instinct that is most effective when turned against itself.

Paradoxically, Dahn’s work has a painterly flair, and testify to an unwavering struggle with the purpose of painting in a late-capitalist art system more inclined to use artworks as objects of speculation and decoration. They constantly demand to know what one should paint, and why anyone should bother painting at all. Dahn’s early works succeeded in laying a cornerstone of the “Bad Painting” movement, exuberantly opening an art-historical door that few thought existed.

Inevitable as it seemed, Dahn’s abandonment of painting came on gradually. His screen prints—increasingly his main outlet along with photography, drawing and film—are not editions, the potentially limitless reproduction common to the medium, but are one-off, original pictures. In some respects, they are a logical continuation of his painting, albeit with non-painterly means.

The found images, lettering and slogans on which these works are based often strike the viewer as vaguely familiar. A testament to Dahn’s wide-ranging interests, they also point again and again to the major role that music played in his life. Visual elements, including an early ethnological photograph of aboriginal Australians, or a picture of a nude Naga cult follower riding a horse, mingle with such distinctive slogans as “Punk is the sound of my soul” or Oscar Wilde’s aphorism, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”. Symbols from the artwork of famous albums by The Smiths, the Sex Pistols, or The National round off his visual lexicon. Like Dahn’s paintings, these works unleash a vast array of associative chains, posing existential, historical, personal and intellectual questions, permeating our consciousness. Rather than explore the trappings of artistic ideologies, they investigate the visual ideologies of everyday life.

 

Walter Dahn: As Life Travels On
Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover, March 2–April 28, 2019

 

Audio Archive

 

The Audioarchiv Kunst is gradually emerging and for the first time is building up an extensive and polyphonic sound archive on the spirit of the times and developments in art in the Rhineland since the 1960s. Nowhere else in Germany at that time were the important art movements such as Pop Art, Minimal and Conceptual Art from the USA taken up and able to develop into new “Rhineland” positions, such as Fluxus. Sections, such as the new electronic music, also entered into new alliances with art during this period.

A contemporary witness of this time was Walter Dahn.

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Walter Dahn

© Audioarchiv Kunst. Photo: Albrecht Fuchs

 

Works
Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Untitled, 1984

Walter Dahn
Untitled, 1984
Spray on canvas
200 × 250 cm
78 3/4 × 98 3/8 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Untitled (Ex Voto), 1987

Walter Dahn
Untitled (Ex Voto), 1987
Oil on canvas
230.2 × 230.5 cm
90 5/8 × 90 3/4 inches

More views
Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Der Trinker, 1983

Walter Dahn
Der Trinker, 1983
Spraypaint on canvas
200 × 200 cm
78 3/4 × 78 3/4 inches

More views
Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Les Enfants Sauvage, 2014

Walter Dahn
Les Enfants Sauvage, 2014
Gouache and silk screen on linen
121 × 86.2 cm
47 5/8 × 34 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Untitled (Soultree), 2015

Walter Dahn
Untitled (Soultree), 2015
Gouache and silk screen on nettle cloth
110 × 80 cm
43 1/4 × 31 1/2 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Ein Mann mit einer langen Nase repariert die Karawane, 1981

Walter Dahn
Ein Mann mit einer langen Nase repariert die Karawane, 1981
Dispersion on nettle cloth
160 × 220 cm
63 × 86 5/8 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Zur Not malen wir auch mit der Nase, 1982

Walter Dahn
Zur Not malen wir auch mit der Nase, 1982
Emulsion paint on canvas
200 × 150 cm
78 3/4 × 59 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Untitled, 1987

Walter Dahn
Untitled, 1987
Acrylic on canvas
120 × 100 cm
47 1/4 × 39 3/8 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Ausfegen, 1986

Walter Dahn
Ausfegen, 1986
Acrylic on canvas
250 × 190 cm
98 3/8 × 74 7/8 inches

More views
Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Vier für ein Ave Maria, 1982

Walter Dahn
Vier für ein Ave Maria, 1982
Dispersion on nettle cloth
250 × 250 cm
98 3/8 × 98 3/8 inches

More views
Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Analytische Malerei … und in Blau ein Turner, der viel Zeit hat, 1981

Walter Dahn
Analytische Malerei … und in Blau ein Turner, der viel Zeit hat, 1981
Acrylic on canvas
150 × 200 cm
59 × 78 3/4 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Untitled, 1983

Walter Dahn
Untitled, 1983
Spray on canvas
250 × 250 cm
98 3/8 × 98 3/8 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Er, 1984

Walter Dahn
Er, 1984
Acrylic on canvas
200 × 240 cm
78 3/4 × 94 1/2 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn
Gathering..., 1998/2004

Walter Dahn
Gathering…, 1998/2004
Acrylic and silk screen on canvas, wedge frame
46 × 73 cm
18 × 28 3/4 inches

More views
Details
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Untitled, 1984
Spray on canvas
200 × 250 cm
78 3/4 × 98 3/8 inches

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Untitled (Ex Voto), 1987
Oil on canvas
230.2 × 230.5 cm
90 5/8 × 90 3/4 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Untitled (Ex Voto), 1987 (detail)

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Untitled (Ex Voto), 1987 (detail)

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Untitled (Ex Voto), 1987 (detail)

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Der Trinker, 1983
Spraypaint on canvas
200 × 200 cm
78 3/4 × 78 3/4 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Der Trinker, 1983
4th Time Around /(My Back Pages) – curated by Richard Prince, installation view, Venus Over Manhattan, New York, USA, September 12 – October 26, 2013

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Der Trinker, 1983
4th Time Around /(My Back Pages) – curated by Richard Prince, installation view, Venus Over Manhattan, New York, USA, September 12 – October 26, 2013

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Der Trinker, 1983
4th Time Around /(My Back Pages) – curated by Richard Prince, installation view, Venus Over Manhattan, New York, USA, September 12 – October 26, 2013

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Les Enfants Sauvage, 2014
Gouache and silk screen on linen
121 × 86.2 cm
47 5/8 × 34 inches

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Untitled (Soultree), 2015
Gouache and silk screen on nettle cloth
110 × 80 cm
43 1/4 × 31 1/2 inches

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Ein Mann mit einer langen Nase repariert die Karawane, 1981
Dispersion on nettle cloth
160 × 220 cm
63 × 86 5/8 inches

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Zur Not malen wir auch mit der Nase, 1982
Emulsion paint on canvas
200 × 150 cm
78 3/4 × 59 inches

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Untitled, 1987
Acrylic on canvas
120 × 100 cm
47 1/4 × 39 3/8 inches

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Ausfegen, 1986
Acrylic on canvas
250 × 190 cm
98 3/8 × 74 7/8 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Ausfegen, 1986
4th Time Around /(My Back Pages) – curated by Richard Prince, installation view, Venus Over Manhattan, New York, USA, September 12-October 26, 2013

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Ausfegen, 1986
4th Time Around /(My Back Pages) – curated by Richard Prince, installation view, Venus Over Manhattan, New York, USA, September 12 – October 26, 2013

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Vier für ein Ave Maria, 1982
Dispersion on nettle cloth
250 × 250 cm
98 3/8 × 98 3/8 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Vier für ein Ave Maria, 1982
Walter Dahn 1980–83 / 2014: 2 Räume, installation view, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, Germany, January 30 – April 2, 2015

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Vier für ein Ave Maria, 1982
Walter Dahn 1980–83 / 2014: 2 Räume, installation view, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, Germany, January 30 – April 2, 2015

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Vier für ein Ave Maria, 1982
Walter Dahn 1980–83 / 2014: 2 Räume, installation view, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, Germany, January 30 – April 2, 2015

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Analytische Malerei … und in Blau ein Turner, der viel Zeit hat, 1981
Acrylic on canvas
150 × 200 cm
59 × 78 3/4 inches

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Untitled, 1983
Spray on canvas
250 × 250 cm
98 3/8 × 98 3/8 inches

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Er, 1984
Acrylic on canvas
200 × 240 cm
78 3/4 × 94 1/2 inches

Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Gathering…, 1998/2004
Acrylic and silk screen on canvas, wedge frame
46 × 73 cm
18 × 28 3/4 inches

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Gathering…, 1998/2004 (detail)

Details
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Current and Upcoming
Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn, Pilzschnecke, 2002
© Walter Dahn

Walter Dahn
Have Love Will Travel. Works 1986–2024
Haus Mödrath, Kerpen
Through August 31, 2025

Walter Dahn’s solo exhibition Have Love Will Travel. Works 1986–2024 at Haus Mödrath provides a comprehensive insight into the artist’s work from 1986 onwards. As one of the protagonists of Mülheimer Freiheit in the early 1980s, Dahn became primarily known as a painter. Yet the exhibition deliberately begins after this period and sheds light on Dahn’s expanded concept of painting and his widely ramified system of references to (pop) culture as well as intellectual history. A central focus is on works with a clear reference to music. A catalog with texts by Diedrich Diederichsen and Oliver Tepel is published on the occasion of the exhibition.

Link
Exhibitions at Sprüth Magers
Walter Dahn

Thank You For The Music (London Beat)
Saadane Afif, John Armleder, John Baldessari, Ellen Cantor, Sean Dack, Walter Dahn, Jeremy Deller, Cerith Wyn Evans, Sylvie Fleury, Liam Gillick, Dan Graham, Andreas Gursky, Stefan Hirsig, Christian Holstad, David Lamelas, Los Super Elegantes, Robert Mapplethorpe, Christian Marclay, David & Albert Maysles, Jonas Mekas, Jonathan Monk, Simon Moretti, Paul Morrissey, Dave Muller, Philippe Parreno / Liam Gillick, Phillippe Parreno, Raymond Pettibon, Zbigniew Rogalski, Steven Shearer, Hedi Slimane, Meredyth Sparks, Mika Taanila, Wolfgang Tillmans, Keith Tyson, Xavier Veilhan, Banks Violette, Lawrence Weiner, Charlotte Zwerin
curated by Johannes Fricke Waldthausen
June 30–September 2, 2006
London

Thank You For The Music addresses the recent history of music. The exhibition examines music and pop culture, their various market mechanisms, and the liberation from the traditional copyright restrictions as a ubiquitous source of artistic inspiration – one that has become a global phenomenon and a permanent aspect of everyday experience. Drawing on a selection of more then 30 contributions by contemporary international artists, filmmakers, and musicians, the project attempts to position music and culture within a larger social context.

Thank You For The Music
Saadane Afif, John Armleder, John Baldessari, Matthew Barney, Pash Buzari, Bruce Conner, Sean Dack, Walter Dahn, Jeremy Deller, Thomas Demand, Simon English, Cerith Wyn Evans, Sylvie Fleury, Liam Gillick, Douglas Gordon, Dan Graham, Andreas Gursky, Stefan Hirsig, Christian Holstad, David Lamelas, Arto Lindsay / Matthew Barney, Robert Mapplethorpe, Christian Marclay, Jonas Mekas, Jonathan Monk, Simon Moretti, Paul Morrissey, Raymond Pettibon, Zbigniew Rogalski, Steven Shearer, Hedi Slimane, Frank Stella, Thaddeus Strode, Mika Taanila, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Essi Utriainen, Mayer Vaisman, Banks Violette
November 24, 2005–February 11, 2006
Munich

The exhibition Thank You For The Music examines music and pop culture, their various market mechanisms and the liberation from traditional copyright restrictions as a ubiquitous source of artistic inspiration — one that has become a global phenomenon and a permanent aspect of everyday experience. Drawing on a selection of contributions by more than 30 international artists, filmmakers and musicians, the show attempts to position intersections between visual arts, music culture and music history within a larger social context.

Walter Dahn
Walter Dahn

Shadow and Light
Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Matthew Barney, George Condo, Walter Dahn, Olafur Eliasson, Martin Fengel, Peter Fischli David Weiss, Dan Flavin, Sylvie Fleury, Gilbert & George, Dan Graham, Thomas Grünfeld, Andreas Gursky, Stefan Hirsig, Jenny Holzer, Axel Kasseböhmer, Stefan Kern, Karen Kilimnik, Astrid Klein, Louise Lawler, Anne Loch, Paul Morrison, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Bruce Nauman, Manuel Ocampo, Nam June Paik, Hirsch Perlman, Lari Pittman, Barbara Probst, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Robert Ryman, Frances Scholz, Andreas Schulze, Cindy Sherman, Paul Sietsema, Rosemarie Trockel, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol, Christopher Wool, Martin Wöhrl, Philip-Lorca diCorcia
July 26–August 31, 2003
Salzburg

Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers will open a temporary space in Salzburg together with their London partner Simon Lee for the duration of the Salzburg Festival. One of the main reasons for this was the fact that the galleries are traditionally closed in August and that exhibition operations are shut down, but at the same time cultural life is at its peak in Salzburg, not far from our Munich location. It makes sense to contribute something to the cultural climate with a precisely formulated group exhibition and at the same time to reach a sophisticated international audience.

20th Anniversary Show
John Baldessari, Alighiero Boetti, George Condo, Walter Dahn, Thomas Demand, Thea Djordjadze, Peter Fischli David Weiss, Sylvie Fleury, Andreas Gursky, Jenny Holzer, Gary Hume, Axel Kasseböhmer, Karen Kilimnik, Astrid Klein, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Nina Pohl, Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha, Frances Scholz, Andreas Schulze, Cindy Sherman, Rosemarie Trockel, Andrea Zittel, Philip-Lorca diCorcia
April 25–October 18, 2003
Cologne

In 1983, Monika Sprüth opened her Cologne based gallery with a solo show by Andreas Schulze. Starting from the idea to establish a forum for young and unknown artists, the central focus of the gallery concept was developed in the discourse of the 80s. The gallery program was completed by recourses to artistic attitudes of the last 40 years. This research, motivated by reflection on contemporary art history, was more and more realized in cooperation with Philomene Magers who directed her Bonn gallery since 1992. After a few years of loose cooperation, Monika Sprüth Gallery and Philomene Magers Gallery aligned with each other after, and together the Monika Sprüth / Philomene Magers Gallery opened up in Munich in 1999.

Walter Dahn

JAM
Vincenzo Castella, Walter Dahn, Philip Pocock
March 1–March 16, 1996
Cologne

Walter Dahn
Press

Milde Wilde
Süddeutsche Zeitung, article by Till Briegleb, March 18, 2019

Walter Dahn: Forever Young
Kunstforum International, article by Michael Stoeber, May/June 2019

The Sample Images of Walter Dahn
Frieze, article by Oliver Osborne, April 2, 2019

33 1/3 rpm und andere: Walter Dahn, Another Time Another Place
Kunstforum International, article by Sebastian Egenhofer, December 1997-March 1998

Brennpunkt 2 – Die Siebziger Jahre
Kunstforum International, article by Jochen Becker, 1991

Biography

Walter Dahn (1954–2024) lived and worked in Cologne. Have Love Will Travel. Works 1986–2024, a comprehensive solo exhibition of Dahn’s work, is currently on view at Haus Mödrath in Kerpen near Cologne, running through August 31, 2025. Selected solo exhibitions include Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover (2019); Kunstmuseum Basel (2017); Sprüth Magers, Berlin (2015); Venus over Manhatten (2013); Kunstverein Sankt Pauli, Hamburg (2007); Kunstverein Krefeld (2005); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1997); Kunsthalle zu Kiel (1994); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel (1989); Museum Folkwang, Essen, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, KunstmuseumHannover (all 1986) and Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn (1985). Selected group exhibitions include a.o. Kunsthalle Mannheim (2021); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal (both 2020); Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (2018); Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle; Mumok, Vienna (both 2016); Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main (2015); NCCA, Moscow (2012); HVCCA, New York (2011); Sabanci Museum, Istanbul (2011); Tate Modern (2007); Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel (2006); Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City (2002); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1996); Biennale of Sydney (1992); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1989); Museum of Modern Art, New York (1984); documenta 7, Kassel (1982).

Education
1971–77 Study at Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf
1975–77 Master Student with Joseph Beuys, Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf
Teaching
1995–2017 Professor of Painting, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Brunswick
Public Collections
Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
Groninger Museum, Groningen
Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
Kunstmuseum Basel
Kunstpalais Erlangen
Kupferstich Kabinett, Berlin
Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Museum für Moderne Kunst MMK, Frankfurt
Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen
Rubell Family Collection / Contemporary Arts Foundation, Miami
Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
Schaulager, Basel
Städel Museum, Frankfurt
Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas, MO