Thomas Bayrle

Borkenkäfer

1983 – 1985

Oil on chipboard

Thomas Bayrle (b. 1937, Berlin) currently lives and works in Frankfurt, Germany. Bayrle studied commercial art and design at the Werkkunstschule in Offenbach. As a key figure within the movement of German Pop Art, Bayrle specialises in ‘superform’ large images composed of iterations of smaller cell-like images.


Borkenkäfer is divided into two parts, one filled with cars and one empty. These cars reference an ‘autobahn system’ which was a key element of Germany’s post-war recovery. Bayrle’s engagement with consumerism and the growing influence of American capitalism serves to artistically depict a sharp critique of America’s post-war influence over Germany. His figures are rendered in mass, with no individual goal apart from engaging in the consumerist system.

"In research and consciousness we are continuously coming closer to the point where every reality is present everywhere."