(born Aachen in 1914) untitled September 1953/I, signed K. O. Götz, again signed and dated K. O. Götz SEPT. 1953/I, on the reverse, mixed media on canvas, 55.3 x 70.4 cm, framed, (PS)

Literature: Karl Otto Götz, Erinnerungen und Werk, Vol. 1a, Düsseldorf 1983, p. 626, no. 706

Provenance: Private Collection, North Rhine Westphalia

“Simply, the speed of the Japanese calligrapher has philosophical and personal resous, those coming from within (Zen). Yet the speed of my painting is based on a tradition, one which created Surrealism: that of automatic writing. By painting and scraping at a higher speed I achieved rhythms and structures which I would never have managed with slow painting and scraping. Added to this (thanks to the speed) comes chance, which creates elements, surprises me and which I welcome warmly or discard. Where the latter is the case then the whole picture is effaced.”(…) “I can only paint my pictures if I paint them as quickly as possible. By painting quickly I achieve a flow and movement, rhythm; I could not manage this with slow painting. You couldn’t even bodge it. The structure is created solely by the speed which I strive for and which I have tested. Then there is another important aspect: chance. Phenomena in the character of the brushstrokes arise simply through chance; not just splashes, but streaks, movements, rhythms, which I would never achieve by thinking about. On the other hand, chance and speed cause other things to happen which annoy me and cannot be corrected. Then I wipe out the whole picture. Where they have not worked right from the start, I have always completely wiped out my pictures - with lots of water and a cloth, until the canvas was white as snow again and I could begin anew.”
(Karl Otto Götz in: Exhibition catalogue Galerie Maulberger, Informelle Tendenzen, Wandel als Prinzip, Munich 2005, P. 40 ff)