Transcript

My name is Gary Carrion-Murayari. I’m the Kraus Family curator at the New Museum and one of the co-curators of the exhibition, Thomas Bayrle: Playtime.

Thomas Bayrle is one of the most important artist to emerge in Germany during the post-war period. He was born in Berlin in 1937 and he currently lives and works in Frankfurt. Thomas initially trained as a jacquard weaver and also worked as a graphic designer creating ad campaigns for large corporations during the 1960s. During this time, he started making paintings and prints that combined an interest leftist politics and the growing culture of consumerism that was spreading through Germany during the economic boom of the 1960s and 70s. Alongside figures like Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke, Bayrle became one of the key figures in German Pop Art.

Throughout his career, Bayrle has been continuously interested in the infrastructure and networks of the modern world. He has created paintings, prints, films, videos, kinetic sculptures, and installations that examine the ways in which technology and images dominate our world. Much of his early work anticipated aspects of our current digital culture from the tools of image manipulation to the connectedness of the internet, but through completely analog methods. He also taught generations of artists at Frankfurt’s prestigious, Stadelschule. This exhibition is his first solo museum exhibition in New York and brings together works from throughout his career, demonstrating his visionary practice and ongoing influence on younger artists working today.