Die Triologie der Tatzen

Meet me with Valentin Just as he did in his book »Watercolours« with Arnold Stadler, Günther Förg has invited 2008 again a special literary voice in the shape of Günter Herburger to accompany both him and his work for this publication. In this case however, the process is a different one; whereas Stadler’s fragmentary, splintered texts derived from the general field of his novel »Komm, gehen wir« were aimed in inimitable fashion at Förg’s watercolours, Günter Herburger provided a summary of the domiciles and phases of the artist’s life in the form of a trilogy, to which the latter reacts with a series of monotypes. The particular attraction for Günther Förg here was the fact that Günter Herburger reconstructs pictorial narratives in his three texts that seem to want to cry out to the viewer “all ready been done!” What emerges thus is a fascinating project – a dialogue between the disciplines in a form that we’ve hardly witnessed for years. Günter Herburger rose to prominence as an author above all through his novel »Die Messe« (1969) and a volume of prose entitled »Die Eroberung der Zitadelle« (1972). His »Thuja« trilogy (1977–1991) was praised for its “social critique devoid of illusions and occasional Valentinesque lunacy” and he became popular with his children’s books »Birne kann alles« (1971) and »Birne brennt durch« (1975).