until 08.03. | #2319ARTatBerlin | Köppe Contemporary presents from 25th January 2019 the exhibition Christian Rickert – Master of Light Dramatics with drawing and photography by the artist.
For the first time we present the photographic work of Christian Rickert in addition to drawings. Until his withdrawal from the public art scene in 1986, Rickert was not only one of Berlin’s most outstanding illustrators, but was also internationally known, exhibiting with Baselitz, Beckmann, Beuys, Chagall, Chillida, Hockney, Hrdlicka, Janssen, Mirò, Picasso, Pollock, Richter, Tàpies, Vasarely, and Wols.
Christian Rickert continued to develop his art in his Grunewald studio even after his retirement. With works never before shown in public, the exhibition rediscovers the artist’s work and focuses on works from the 1980s to the present day.
Dr. Wolfgang Köppe
Christian Rickert – Studie für ein Portrait Max Beckmann,
4.III-9.V.1983, 59,4 x 42 cm, Bleistift auf Papier
Christian Rickert made headlines in the 1960s to 1980s. The Berliner received several awards for his virtuosic-furiose drawings with their socio-critical themes. In 1970 he received the renowned Ruhr Prize. Soon he was considered one of the metropolis’s greatest talents in the context of the critical Berlin realists in the group of such excellent draughtsmen as Wolfgang Petrick, Peter Sorge and Hans Jürgen Diehl.
As early as the 1960s, Rickert was also in the spotlight internationally. The young artist exhibited “at eye level” with world stars. His drawings hung next to works by artists, all of whom are listed in the Who´s Who of modern art: Baselitz, Beckmann, Beuys, Chagall, Chillida, Hockney, Hrdlicka, Janssen, Matta, Mirò, Picasso, Pollock, Richter, Tàpies, Vasarely, Wols. Then the caesura! After more than twenty successful years, Christian Rickert retired from public art in 1986. However, he continued to develop his art in his Grunewald studio.
He paints and draws, produces prints and collages, continues to be a photographic and object artist. But to this day, Christian Rickert’s drawing has remained his primary means of design. It stands on an equal footing with all other genres of his oeuvre.
Christian Rickert – Stillleben-Collage warm-kalt,
Okt. 1995, Cibachrome hinter Plexiglas, 60 x 90 cm
Christian Rickert has recently shown his art again in a larger public context. In 2013 first in the Kommunale Galerie Berlin and one year later in the Galerie Villa Köppe. In his current exhibition at Galerie Köppe Contemporary, he presents drawings and photographs that document that the pleasure in the human image and in pointed critical realism has remained.
Rickert’s art today is increasingly inspired by the mass media. The reality statements of his motifs have become more direct and harder in his later years. Some pictures, as the artist himself says, emerge from visions of fear. “The power and abuse of power by authorities, that has become more and more an important topic for me, and that also corresponds to my current experience of anonymous power and violence,” he says.
Christian Rickert – Nachtmahr, 1993,
Cibachrome hinter Plexiglas, 59 x 40 cm
The anonymity and vulnerability of the human being in a highly differentiated and high-tech, but also conflict-laden civilization, as well as the consequences of ecological catastrophes and the tragedy of dealing with nature are the main themes of the new exhibition ‘Christian Rickert – Meister der Lichtdramatik’ (Christian Rickert – Masters of Light Dramatics), which Galerie Köppe Contemporary is organizing for the artist with drawings and photographs. The exhibition focuses on works created between 1984 and 2018.
André Lindhorst, 2019
Vernissage: Thursday, 24th January 2019, 7:00 p.m.
Exhibition period: Friday, 25th January – Friday, 8th March 2019
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Exhibition Christian Rickert – Master of Light Dramatics – Köppe Contemporary | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin