Norbert Bisky, Trilemma, 2017, oil on canvas, 94 1/2 x 74 3/4". © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.
Norbert Bisky
KÖNIG GALERIE | St. Agnes
Built in a Brutalist style, the former Saint Agnes Church that is now the König Galerie is anything but a neutral gallery space. The hanging paintings on the high walls of its nave can easily, perhaps too easily, bring out any spiritual aspirations the works may harbor. Norbert Bisky wisely—and humbly, even if some of his paintings appear to be the opposite of modest—chose to resist this temptation. The twenty-six works in this show, “Trilemma,” were presented on three double-sided walls of increasing size, designed for the occasion and placed zigzag in the nave. This arrangement seemed to support a growing tension building up toward a big, explosive painting on the third wall. The first work one encountered on entering, Trilemma Processor, 2017, shows a young man rubbing his eye—seemingly under pressure, if not overwhelmed. He is surrounded by geometric symbols,
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