Markus Draper: Inge Goes to Work on Foot

The mixed-media work of Berlin-based East German artist Markus Draper is a rich exploration of the unfolding of personal and social memory in architecture, history and place. Draper mines the visual metaphors of late-period GDR in his own family history in cast-metal models of prefab high-rises and sensuous oil paintings of interiors and diary entries. Drapers father was a prominent city planner in G.rlitz in the 1980s and his diaries, translated into paintings by the artist, titled Inge Goes to Work on Foot, describe the feeling of complete stagnation that dominated the last decade of the GDR. During that period, former members of the Baader-Meinhof Gang, or the Red Army Faction (RAF), went to ground in the tower-block developments on the fringes of the city Draper models. This compelling and well-designed exhibition catalog includes essays by Clemens Kl.ckner, an interview with former RAF member Ralf B. Friedrich and a discussion between Jennifer Allen and the artist.