Heavy Burschi
Martin Kippenberger
1991
Heavy Burschi
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Heavy Burschi ("Heavy Guy" or "Heavy Lad") is one of Martin Kippenberger's most disruptive bodies of work, developed between 1989 and 1990. It was first presented as an installation at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (10 ...
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Heavy Burschi
Martin Kippenberger
1991
Cologne: Kölnischen Kunstverein
Unpaginated [60 pages]
25 × 21 cm

Heavy Burschi ("Heavy Guy" or "Heavy Lad") is one of Martin Kippenberger's most disruptive bodies of work, developed between 1989 and 1990. It was first presented as an installation at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (10 November–22 December 1991), comprising a large metal refuse container filled with destroyed paintings, accompanied by thirty-three framed colour photographs documenting their destruction.


 


The work's origin, however, is more complex than the installation itself, evoking Kippenberger's interest in self-mythology and institutional critique. The discarded paintings were not originals but copies of Kippenberger's own works, executed by his assistant (Merlin Carpenter) at the artist's request. Judged by Kippenberger to be "too well done", the canvases were slashed, dismantled, and thrown into the refuse container, but only after being meticulously photographed. The resulting installation is a complex gesture of vandalism in which originality and authorship are simultaneously negated and reaffirmed.


 


The publication accompanying the exhibition concludes with a reproduction of Kristine McKenna's critical review of Kippenberger's previous exhibition at Luhring Augustine Hetzler Gallery in Santa Monica, originally published in the Los Angeles Reader. While dismissing the paintings as derivative and insufficiently considered, McKenna nevertheless acknowledged the artist's riotous attempt:


 


"A social critic who transforms the trash of a corrupted culture into ironic commentary on the personality crisis of the human race, Kippenberger isn't venturing on any new turf in pointing out our collective failures as a society; beneath its veneer of flashy provocation, his work isn't terribly original and is often poorly thought out."


 


More than any of Kippenberger's projects, Heavy Burschi reveals the artist simultaneously embracing and undermining the logic of the art market. Through the destruction of commissioned copies of his own work, he erases the distinction between original and reproduction.


 


In 2026, Heavy Burschi was re-staged by curators Jean de Loisy and Margaux Bonopera for the exhibition SUSPECTS – Van Gogh, Tricksters & Co. at the Fondation Vincent van Gogh in Arles.

Cologne: Kölnischen Kunstverein
Unpaginated [60 pages]
25 × 21 cm

Heavy Burschi ("Heavy Guy" or "Heavy Lad") is one of Martin Kippenberger's most disruptive bodies of work, developed between 1989 and 1990. It was first presented as an installation at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (10 November–22 December 1991), comprising a large metal refuse container filled with destroyed paintings, accompanied by thirty-three framed colour photographs documenting their destruction.

 

The work's origin, however, is more complex than the installation itself, evoking Kippenberger's interest in self-mythology and institutional critique. The discarded paintings were not originals but copies of Kippenberger's own works, executed by his assistant (Merlin Carpenter) at the artist's request. Judged by Kippenberger to be "too well done", the canvases were slashed, dismantled, and thrown into the refuse container, but only after being meticulously photographed. The resulting installation is a complex gesture of vandalism in which originality and authorship are simultaneously negated and reaffirmed.

 

The publication accompanying the exhibition concludes with a reproduction of Kristine McKenna's critical review of Kippenberger's previous exhibition at Luhring Augustine Hetzler Gallery in Santa Monica, originally published in the Los Angeles Reader. While dismissing the paintings as derivative and insufficiently considered, McKenna nevertheless acknowledged the artist's riotous attempt:

 

"A social critic who transforms the trash of a corrupted culture into ironic commentary on the personality crisis of the human race, Kippenberger isn't venturing on any new turf in pointing out our collective failures as a society; beneath its veneer of flashy provocation, his work isn't terribly original and is often poorly thought out."

 

More than any of Kippenberger's projects, Heavy Burschi reveals the artist simultaneously embracing and undermining the logic of the art market. Through the destruction of commissioned copies of his own work, he erases the distinction between original and reproduction.

 

In 2026, Heavy Burschi was re-staged by curators Jean de Loisy and Margaux Bonopera for the exhibition SUSPECTS – Van Gogh, Tricksters & Co. at the Fondation Vincent van Gogh in Arles.

DESCRIPTION

Heavy Burschi ("Heavy Guy" or "Heavy Lad") is one of Martin Kippenberger's most disruptive bodies of work, developed between 1989 and 1990. It was first presented as an installation at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (10 November–22 December 1991), comprising a large metal refuse container filled with destroyed paintings, accompanied by thirty-three framed colour photographs documenting their destruction.

 

The work's origin, however, is more complex than the installation itself, evoking Kippenberger's interest in self-mythology and institutional critique. The discarded paintings were not originals but copies of Kippenberger's own works, executed by his assistant (Merlin Carpenter) at the artist's request. Judged by Kippenberger to be "too well done", the canvases were slashed, dismantled, and thrown into the refuse container, but only after being meticulously photographed. The resulting installation is a complex gesture of vandalism in which originality and authorship are simultaneously negated and reaffirmed.

 

The publication accompanying the exhibition concludes with a reproduction of Kristine McKenna's critical review of Kippenberger's previous exhibition at Luhring Augustine Hetzler Gallery in Santa Monica, originally published in the Los Angeles Reader. While dismissing the paintings as derivative and insufficiently considered, McKenna nevertheless acknowledged the artist's riotous attempt:

 

"A social critic who transforms the trash of a corrupted culture into ironic commentary on the personality crisis of the human race, Kippenberger isn't venturing on any new turf in pointing out our collective failures as a society; beneath its veneer of flashy provocation, his work isn't terribly original and is often poorly thought out."

 

More than any of Kippenberger's projects, Heavy Burschi reveals the artist simultaneously embracing and undermining the logic of the art market. Through the destruction of commissioned copies of his own work, he erases the distinction between original and reproduction.

 

In 2026, Heavy Burschi was re-staged by curators Jean de Loisy and Margaux Bonopera for the exhibition SUSPECTS – Van Gogh, Tricksters & Co. at the Fondation Vincent van Gogh in Arles.

Cologne: Kölnischen Kunstverein
Unpaginated [60 pages]
25 × 21 cm

Heavy Burschi ("Heavy Guy" or "Heavy Lad") is one of Martin Kippenberger's most disruptive bodies of work, developed between 1989 and 1990. It was first presented as an installation at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (10 November–22 December 1991), comprising a large metal refuse container filled with destroyed paintings, accompanied by thirty-three framed colour photographs documenting their destruction.

 

The work's origin, however, is more complex than the installation itself, evoking Kippenberger's interest in self-mythology and institutional critique. The discarded paintings were not originals but copies of Kippenberger's own works, executed by his assistant (Merlin Carpenter) at the artist's request. Judged by Kippenberger to be "too well done", the canvases were slashed, dismantled, and thrown into the refuse container, but only after being meticulously photographed. The resulting installation is a complex gesture of vandalism in which originality and authorship are simultaneously negated and reaffirmed.

 

The publication accompanying the exhibition concludes with a reproduction of Kristine McKenna's critical review of Kippenberger's previous exhibition at Luhring Augustine Hetzler Gallery in Santa Monica, originally published in the Los Angeles Reader. While dismissing the paintings as derivative and insufficiently considered, McKenna nevertheless acknowledged the artist's riotous attempt:

 

"A social critic who transforms the trash of a corrupted culture into ironic commentary on the personality crisis of the human race, Kippenberger isn't venturing on any new turf in pointing out our collective failures as a society; beneath its veneer of flashy provocation, his work isn't terribly original and is often poorly thought out."

 

More than any of Kippenberger's projects, Heavy Burschi reveals the artist simultaneously embracing and undermining the logic of the art market. Through the destruction of commissioned copies of his own work, he erases the distinction between original and reproduction.

 

In 2026, Heavy Burschi was re-staged by curators Jean de Loisy and Margaux Bonopera for the exhibition SUSPECTS – Van Gogh, Tricksters & Co. at the Fondation Vincent van Gogh in Arles.

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Heavy Burschi ("Heavy Guy" or "Heavy Lad") is one of Martin Kippenberger's most disruptive bodies of work, developed between 1989 and 1990. It was first presented as an installation at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (10 November–22 December 1991), comprising a large metal refuse container filled with destroyed paintings, accompanied by thirty-three framed colour photographs documenting their destruction.

 

The work's origin, however, is more complex than the installation itself, evoking Kippenberger's interest in self-mythology and institutional critique. The discarded paintings were not originals but copies of Kippenberger's own works, executed by his assistant (Merlin Carpenter) at the artist's request. Judged by Kippenberger to be "too well done", the canvases were slashed, dismantled, and thrown into the refuse container, but only after being meticulously photographed. The resulting installation is a complex gesture of vandalism in which originality and authorship are simultaneously negated and reaffirmed.

 

The publication accompanying the exhibition concludes with a reproduction of Kristine McKenna's critical review of Kippenberger's previous exhibition at Luhring Augustine Hetzler Gallery in Santa Monica, originally published in the Los Angeles Reader. While dismissing the paintings as derivative and insufficiently considered, McKenna nevertheless acknowledged the artist's riotous attempt:

 

"A social critic who transforms the trash of a corrupted culture into ironic commentary on the personality crisis of the human race, Kippenberger isn't venturing on any new turf in pointing out our collective failures as a society; beneath its veneer of flashy provocation, his work isn't terribly original and is often poorly thought out."

 

More than any of Kippenberger's projects, Heavy Burschi reveals the artist simultaneously embracing and undermining the logic of the art market. Through the destruction of commissioned copies of his own work, he erases the distinction between original and reproduction.

 

In 2026, Heavy Burschi was re-staged by curators Jean de Loisy and Margaux Bonopera for the exhibition SUSPECTS – Van Gogh, Tricksters & Co. at the Fondation Vincent van Gogh in Arles.

MORE BOOKS