Martin Kippenberger; German ‘Bad Boy Artist’

Martin Kippenberger, 43, versatile painter and sculptor who was considered one of Germany’s “bad boy artists.” Kippenberger began making his mark on the German art scene in the early 1970s after breaking off studies at the Hamburg Academy of Fine Art. He worked in almost every medium--drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, collages and books, as well as creating installation and performance pieces. But he was perhaps known for his attitude even more than his art. When he was wrongly accused of being a fascist, he created a Cubist work with an obvious swastika titled “No Matter How I Try, I Cannot Discern a Swastika.” When Kippenberger exhibited his work at the Luhring Augustine Hetzler Gallery in Santa Monica in 1991, a Times critic called his art “disappointing.” The critic added: “He may not have created a great body of work yet, but he’s sure got a persona.” Kippenberger’s art was also exhibited throughout Germany and in Zurich, Switzerland; Paris, Jerusalem, London and New York. On Sunday in Vienna of liver cancer.