Sauberes Auto – Gute Laune (Clean Car – Good Mood), 2002

With Sauberes Auto – gute Laune (1971), Sigmar Polke transforms a seemingly innocuous advertising slogan into a multilayered reflection on consumer culture, mass media, and collective aspirations. Drawing on the visual language of advertising and the logic of serial reproduction, the artist both exposes and questions the promises embedded in the consumer world. Characteristic of Polke’s position within Capitalist Realism is his ability to combine visual appeal with subtle yet incisive critique.