HANNOVER.- The American painter Alex Katz (b. 1927 in Brooklyn, lives in New York) will be showing a series of life paintings covering the period from 1980s to the present day, juxtaposed with selected city views of New York in his show at the kestnergesellschaft. In this way, two extremes coincide in the exhibition »naked beauty«: the human body and architecture stand side by side and tell the story of the capacity of Katz’s painting to transform subjective impressions into universal symbols. Until now, Alex Katz’s life studies have never been gathered together in such a concentration and profusion within the framework of one exhibition. With his characteristically focused works replete with crisp lines and surfaces, the painter explores the relationship between the figure and the painting’s ground, creating singularly beautiful paintings that are also universally symbolic at the same time,