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This book delves into the specific challenges Girlfriends presents - both for viewers and for art historians - whilst simultaneously situating it in relation to the extended work of Polke across a range of different media including photography, painting, printmaking, sculpture, film, and the use of experimental techniques and materials. It also examines the artists surrounding Polke; the sociopolitical context of post-War Germany; and his influence within the history of socially and politically critical modern and contemporary art. Pushing the boundaries of Pop Art, Girlfriends is not just an ordinary mimic of mass media reproductions but also a critical discussion of the use and social function of images more widely.

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Stefan Gronert is Curator of Photography and New Media at Sprengel Museum Hannover. A Lecturer in art history at the Braunschweig University of Art, he is the author of Jeff Wall: Specific Pictures and coeditor of Gerhard Richter: Editions 1965-2013

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