Anselm Kiefer + Niemeyer

Lilith 1987-9

Oil, ash and copper wire on canvas
support: 3815 x 5612 x 500 mm support, each: 3815 x 2806 x 50 mm
painting

This horrific vision of urban sprawl was inspired by Kiefer’s visit to Sao Paulo in Brazil. Tangled copper wiring signals the breakdown of communication. The city is engulfed in an apocalyptic haze, which Kiefer created by spreading dust and earth across the painting, then burning parts of its surface. According to Hebrew mythology, Lilith was Adam’s first wife, a seductive and demonic airborne spirit. In Kiefer’s painting, Lilith seems to bring destruction from the air upon Oscar Niemeyer’s modernist buildings.

via Tate Modern