A.R. Penck, born Ralf Winkler (Dresden, 1939 – Zurich, 2017), is one of the key figures of international Neo-Expressionism and among the most distinctive voices in postwar German art. Growing up in East Germany, he was rejected by art academies and worked clandestinely for years under multiple pseudonyms while the GDR authorities confiscated his works. In 1980 he was expelled to West Germany.
His visual language is instantly recognisable: archetypal stylised figures — the Standart — evoking cave painting and children’s drawings, charged with political tension and mythic content. After moving West he became a central figure of German Neo-Expressionism alongside Baselitz, Lüpertz and Immendorff. He participated in Documenta 5, 6, 7 and 9 and in the 1984 Venice Biennale. His works are held at MoMA in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.
