Sharp-witted self-irony was a large part of Martin Kippenberger’s strategy: borrowing from all aspects of culture ensured his own relevance within it. Kippenberger’s architecture paintings are a grandiose epitome of ego, and a megalomaniac approach to urban design. His buildings are the most enduring form of creation, with city planning the ultimate tribute of power and genius.

In U.N.Building, Martin Kippenberger renders a blueprint of complete dysfunctionality: chunky shapes of cubism gone wrong, engulfed in a forbearing scribbled black smoke. His fragmented canvas adds to the image’s instability, the bottom right section providing only the scantest hint of solid foundation, from which his topsy-turvy metropolis might aspire.