Anselm Kiefer at Gagosian Gallery

The heart of Anselm Kiefer’s latest exhibition at Gagosian Gallery is a series of large-scale handmade books crafted from cardboard covered in plaster and painted with watercolor. Titled ‘Walpurgia,’ after an 8th century English nun, this lush, flesh-colored rendering of flowers echoes the erotic nature of the new paintings. Though the subject matter seems like a departure for Kiefer, it continues work begun in the 70s for which he merged the landscape and female bodies. (At Gagosian Gallery’s 21st Street location through July 14th).

Anselm Kiefer, Walpurgia, watercolor and pencil on plaster on cardboard, 14 pages (six double page spreads, front and back cover), 34 ¼ x 25 9/16 x 2 ¾ inches, 2013.