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Development of cipher painting and international breakthrough
As early as 1961, Penck turned away from realist painting and developed his cipher system of elementary figures reminiscent of anarchic cave paintings. Penck’s paintings are populated by animal protagonists and mythical creatures that formally move between figuration and abstraction. He creates memorable compositions from minimalist forms and stick figures, with which he depicts fundamental human and social relationships. As the “master of stick figures”, Penck cultivated this type of painting long before pop art and graffiti artist Keith Haring popularized it worldwide.
In 1968, he created the groundbreaking concept “Standart” and subsequently his first felt sculptures, which were followed by expressive wooden sculptures. Penck’s international breakthrough was his participation in the Documenta in 1972, but only his paintings were allowed to take part: The GDR authorities still refused Penck permission to leave the country at that time. After he was awarded the Will Grohmann Prize by the Academy of Arts in West Berlin in 1975, state security controls also increased
Leading figure of the “”Neuen Wilden“”
In 1976, Penck met fellow West German painter Jörg Immendorff, with whom he worked intensively in the years that followed. Together they are regarded as the leading figures of the “Neue Wilde”. In 1980, Penck moved to the West for good and in 1983 he moved on to London. In 1985, Penck was awarded the Aachen Art Prize and three years later he was appointed Professor of Painting at the Düsseldorf Art Academy.
Works of art by A.R. Penck hang in many important museums of modern art in Europe, the USA and Japan.
Museums and public collections:
– Pinakothek der Moderne, München, Germany
– Art Collection Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
– Gallery Neue Meister, Dresden, Germany
– Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art, Duisburg, Germany
– Kunstmuseum Walter, Augsburg, Germany
– Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
– Städtische Galerie Dresden, Germany
– Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
– Migros Museum of Contemporary Art, Zurich, Switzerland
– Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
– Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg, France
– Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Solo and group exhibitions:
1968:
– German Avantgarde 3: A.R. Penck, Gallery Hake, Cologne, Germany
1968:
– A.R. Penck: First Training with Standart, Gallery Michael Werner, Cologne, Germany
1971:
– Signs as Understanding A.R. Penck, Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Krefeld, Germany
1977:
– Documenta 6, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
1981:
– A.R. Penck, Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland
1982:
– Documenta 7, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
1984:
– Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
1988:
– A.R. Penck, National Gallery, Berlin, Germany
From unwanted critic of the system to international artist star
A.R. Penck is one of the most important German artists of the present day. His works can be found in the world’s most important collections, from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Hamburger Kunsthalle.
Penck was born in Dresden in 1939 under his legal name Ralf Winkler and worked in the former GDR under various pseudonyms such as “Mike Hammer”, “TM” or “Y”. The university in East Berlin repeatedly rejected him and he was also denied membership of the GDR Artists’ Association. So he did an apprenticeship as a technical draughtsman and worked as a stoker, night watchman, letter carrier and actor.
AR Penck, the versatile all-rounder
A.R. Penck is a particularly versatile artist: in addition to painting and sculpture, he wrote theoretical texts, poems with a lot of wit and made films. Printmaking with etchings, lithographs, silkscreen portfolios and self-designed books are particularly close to his heart. His secret love, however, is still music: Penck plays the piano and guitar and is a drummer in a jazz band with which he performed publicly for many years. In 2003, the artist emigrated to Dublin, Ireland, where he lived and worked until his death in May 2017.
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