Imi Knoebel is one of the most important contemporary German artists. He is considered the leading representative of Rhenish Minimalism; his art is radically non-representational. His works combine abstract painting with industrial materiality and a serial working method.
Imi Knoebel was born in Dessau in 1940 under the real name Klaus Wolf Knoebel. Starting in 1962, he studied for two years with Rainer Giese at the Werkkunstschule in Darmstadt, where he became acquainted with the ideas of Bauhaus pioneers László Moholy-Nagy and Johannes Itten. In 1964, the two friends transferred to the Düsseldorf Art Academy, fascinated by the teaching style and personality of Joseph Beuys. Their deep connection led Knoebel and Giese to share an artistic identity – they both adopted the same first name: Imi + Imi, symbolizing the phrase “Ich mit ihm” (I with him). At the Düsseldorf Academy, they also worked with Jörg Immendorf and, above all, with Blinky Palermo (aka Peter Heisterkamp) in the legendary Raum 19. With Palermo and Katharina Sieverding, both Imis defined their own artistic positions.
Subsequently, Imi Knoebel developed his own minimalist style independently of the other Beuys students, drawing on and incorporating influences from classics such as Kazimir Malevich and the ascetic geometric-abstract works of the Dutch de Stijl group, including Piet Mondrian and Gerrit Rietfeld. In 1974, Imi Knoebel turned to color for the first time, and in the 1980s, he increasingly integrated found objects into his installations.
He also used his art to engage politically, supporting, among other causes, children’s rights, the Polish trade union Solidarity, and Franco-German reconciliation.
Imi Knoebel increasingly created monumental works for architectural contexts, such as the design of several stained-glass windows for the Notre-Dame de Reims Cathedral, which were installed in 2011 and 2015. In 2020, he designed large-format window panels for the Basel Volkshaus, based on the color-theoretical concepts of the Bauhaus style.
Imi Knoebel still lives and works in Düsseldorf.
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