Sigmar Polke: linking the Tate Modern with New York and Nazi Germany

Art reflects reality, or so it seems with the wildly divergent creativity of Sigmar Polke. He grew up in what is now Poland, and his family fled to East Germany, and later to Dusseldorf, and then Cologne. It seems he lived through Nazi Germany without having to leave the country. But it also seems that his artistic skills took him on many journeys away from the norm and the establishment. Tate Modern has teemed up with the Museum of Modern Art in New York to co-curate an impresssive exhibition of paintings, sculptures, movies, books and other objects. The interesting thing, for me, was his use of different materials for his paintings; he used fabric, felt and bubble wrap as a basis, and then used various elements such as meteor dust and sand in his paintings. He even exposed uranium to create a wonderful pink hued set of abstract shapes. He also documented his experiments with hallucinogenic drugs, with some respect and artistic license. Overall a very creative man who created a very real alternative to orthodoxy.