Skulpturenpark Köln

The œuvre of A.R. Penck (orig. Ralf Winkler, b.1939 in Dresden d. 2017 in Zurich) is based on a figurative pictorial idiom that uses a system of archaic symbols and invented technoid forms in which art and the artist's biography are closely interwoven. This self-taught painter's reputation as an internationally recognised artist was established by his participation in documenta in 1972 (again in 1982 and 1992). In 1977 he started making his first wood sculptures from tree trunks, later also making small-scale bronzes. After his GDR citizenship was annulled in 1980, he began to work on a monumental scale: parallel to his more autonomous and gestural paintings with their large figurative combinations, he created big, complex sculptures. (Ich-Selbstbewußtsein, 1985/86, Anti-Dom, 1986).