NARRATOR:  

Sigmar Polke’s work is nothing if not varied and experimental.  

GARY GARRELS:  

He’s interested in this relationship between the chemical materials and processes and then the mental processes that create meaning out of what we’re seeing. 

NARRATOR:  

Curator Gary Garrels. 

GARRELS:  

He kind of sees himself as a collaborator with his materials. Polke’s also very interested in the ancient European studies of alchemy, which were our precursors to chemistry. The medieval chemists were—were much more experimental. So Polke really sees himself more in that—against the idea of the rational, against the idea of the systematic, of the ordered. He’s more interested in the surprising outcome that will happen if you don’t obey the rules. He’s interested in taking relatively mundane materials and transforming them into something special. But we’re always grounded in the material.