Cyanosis
I can tell you that the term cyanosis refers to the blue skin tone that characterized the victims of the flu in 1918, and that blue is also a color of tranquility and healing. I can also suggest that just as the invisible organism is made massively visible through its destructive capacity, the wall of abstract paintings in shades of cyan depicts the broken bodies of the infected, and that the blue surfaces are smooth as skin but their broken edges allude to the body as depleted host. But in spite of all this, the truth is that the panels are simply “fever meditations” or places of visual rest during illness, and what I’m most excited about is that inexplicable power that art can have – that thing that leaves you speechless. If the idea that art can heal is a little too twee for you, then can we at least agree on the power of sensory pleasure? I think what Martin Kippenberger meant by suggesting art and entertainment are not mutually exclusive is that we (artists) have permission to cooperate with our audience both through physical form and intellectual engagement. In return, the audience brings the work to life. Mutual generosity.
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