art'otel dresden, by park plaza

Artist Information

Born Ralf Winkler in Dresden in 1939, A. R. Penck has often been described as a man and artist who found the feeling of being rooted in a community and a state unbearable. After quitting school and abandoning an apprenticeship, he applied to the Art Academy in East Berlin and Dresden. He was rejected a number of times and began an apprenticeship as a graphic artist at the East German state-owned "People's Advertising Agency." Thereafter, he had his first exhibition.

Since then, Penck has continuously worked as an artist, and he now lives in Dublin, Berlin, and London. His acquaintance with West German gallerists in 1965 led to other exhibitions, including his participation in documenta7 in 1987, and to greater successes in the Federal Republic of Germany. Penck developed a new and distinctive pictorial language. Towards the end of the 1960s, he began to work with signals, signs and symbols, and he chose his pseudonym based upon the geologist and climatologist Albrecht Penck (1858-1945).

His study of system theory is apparent in the 28 drawings exhibited in the halls of each floor of the building. These are sketch-studies of abstract thought processes and outlines of scientific biological and mathematical models reminiscent of family trees, cell groups and molecular structures. "Each of the three systems reaches an almost similar problematical form following various organizational principles," wrote Penck on one of his sketches.

Penck's artwork was rejected in East Germany. Having struggled with the political system of the GDR for years, Penck left the country permanently and moved to Cologne when his friend, Wolf Biermann, was deprived of his East German citizenship.