A R Penck
Born – Dresden, Germany 1939
Born Ralf Winkler, A R Penck never received formal art training. In his early oil paintings he focused in interior and exterior scenes from urban life. He also painted a number of portraits. He was a friend of the artist Georg Baselitz, who moved to West Berlin in 1956. In 1961, the year that the Berlin Wall was built, Penck experienced an artistic and political crisis when he was blocked from studying and rejected from the army on the grounds that he was “anti-social”. In 1964, he was allowed some freedom by the East German authorities and set up his own studio. Osten is a lively, structured painting using signs within a given framework. His primitive style is based in a complex pattern of symbols, in which a stickman represents the human race. The interplay of symbols, numbers, letters and patterns alludes to a reading of society that forever remains disturbingly incomplete and incomprehensible. Unsurprisingly, given the underground nature in which he had to live his life, much of his work appears coded and mysterious. In 1980, Penck was finally able to leave East Germany and now lives in London.
Masterpieces:
- Crossing
- Metaphysical Passage Through a Zebra
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About a r penck
A.R. Penck
John Yau
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Expressions: New art from Germany : Georg Baselitz, Jorg Immendorff, Anselm Kiefer, Markus Lupertz, A.R. Penck
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A.R. Penck: Sonette (German Edition)
A. R Penck
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