In Rainer Fetting’s Mann und Axt (grün) I, 1981, a nude male figure predominates the composition, looming with his back turned over the center of the canvas. Rendered in layered swathes of deep blue and charcoal, the figure emanates an eerie undercurrent that suffuses the entirety of the work. He stands in a bare room, staring down towards a corner where an axe leans against the wall. Frenetic brushstrokes of vibrating green hues imbue the titular object with a sense of dynamism and electricity that effectively counterbalances the figure’s sullen tenor.
This thematic pressure is magnified by Fetting’s distortions of scale and form. The figure’s extremities are elongated and the structure of the room appears askew, creating a surreal, claustrophobic, nightmarish scene–the outcome of which appears evident. Viewers may assume the figure will reach for the axe but are offered a glimpse of the moment just before he would, injecting a layer of apprehensive tension into the work.
Mann und Axt or man with axe is a recurring motif in Fetting’s oeuvre, as he employed similar compositions in several works created in the early 1980s. Repetition and experimentation are tenets of Fetting’s working method, with the artist once stating he could compose an entire museum show of test prints of one motif.i Mann und Axt (grün) I distills several of the stylistic idiosyncrasies that have garnered Fetting a reputation as one of the foremost contemporary German artists. The gestural brushwork evident throughout the present example echoes the inspiration Fetting drew from the Abstract Expressionism of New York School artists like Willem de Kooning, whose work he was further exposed to while splitting time between Berlin and New York City during the 1980s. The present work is also a prominent totem of the artist’s willingness to embrace figuration at a time when conceptual and abstract themes commanded the artistic spheres. The late German painter, Christian Schoeler, credited Fetting with pioneering the revival of the male form in German art, stating in a joint interview, "Rainer paved the way for painters to represent the male figure in Germany. Until him, it was still taboo."ii
