Georg Baselitz: Sofabilder / Sofa Pictures

Presented at White Cube from May 24—September 3, Georg Baselitz’s “Sofabilder / Sofa Pictures” is a show of new and recent paintings and drawings. Each featuring a recurring nude form (rendered from memory and based roughly on the artist’s wife), the works follow the German artist’s trajectory as he continues his long-standing foray through the space between figuration and abstraction. Looking at past works for inspiration, like Picasso’s L’Aubade (The Serenade) and the 1538 work by Titian, Venus of Urbino, Baselitz’s works bear an unusual duality in their matter-of-fact titles (like Woman and the Congo Mask) and the haunting qualities of the compostions themselves, which feature white-painted figures atop a black backdrop—reminscent of skeletons on display—and horizontally-situated drawings that bear a striking resemblance to spattered blood with their blend of red and black India ink.