Horst Janssen as Hotshot X

In 1982 Horst Janssen published his pamphlet “Horst Janssen als Angeber X. Eine Quijoterie” (Horst Janssen as Braggart X. A Quixotry) that discussed painting and drawing quality in a very egocentric manner. This amusing polemic attacks his contemporaries and their art via drawings, collages and commentaries. His assessment criteria are based largely on the ‘Old Masters’; his rebuttal of Modern art is however uncompromising. In this catalogue, Janssen’s works are juxtaposed with art from his contemporaries – both maligned and revered – and he examines the discourse on art and commerce of the 1980s on the basis of a great number of often surprising exponents.