Olberg, Jörg (*1956), Agony, 1987

Jörg Olberg(*1956 Dresden), Agony , 1987. etching, E.A. (edition of 30), 24 x 17 cm (image), 46 x 37 cm (sheet), each signed in pencil lower right "Olberg" and dated "IX [19]87", inscribed lower left "E.A. [Epreuve d'Artiste]".

- minimal crease and dust stains in the broad margin

- The architecture of decay -

Jörg Olberg draws here the sum of his artistic study of the Berlin ruins, which were still present in the cityscape well into the 80s. With his work "Agony" he creates an allegory of decay. Positioned in the landscape of ruins, a ruined house grows before the viewer, rising like the Tower of Babel into the sky, its roof and gable brightly illuminated by the sun. But already the roof shows mostly only the rafters, and as the gaze is drawn further down, the building visibly disintegrates, the beams protruding in all directions looking like splintered bones. Slowly but inexorably - in agony - the house will collapse in on itself and become nothing more than the burial mound of itself. At the same time, the small-scale stone composition and the plaster form a pattern-like ornamentation of decay.

The tension in the picture is fed by the counter-movement of growth and collapse, which is heightened by the dramatic formation of clouds. The swirls of clouds are reminiscent of a world landscape, such as Albrecht Altdorfer's Battle of Alexandria (1529). And the ruin - this is the further allegorical content - stands pars pro toto for the world as such. In this way, Olberg creates a modern memento mori in an architectural language of forms that is a key work of his early oeuvre.

About the artist

Born in Dresden, Germany, Jörg Olberg trained as a goldsmith, studied architecture in Weimar, and graphic design at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee. Since graduating in 1986, he has worked as a freelance artist in Berlin. Throughout his career, Olberg has focused on Berlin's urban landscape, and in his early work he was fascinated by the ruinous side of the city that still existed in the 1980s.