Anselm Kiefer
Anselm Kiefer
Anselm Kieferis a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Joseph Beuys and Peter Dreher during the 1970s. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. The poems of Paul Celan have played a role in developing Kiefer's themes of German history and the horror of the Holocaust, as have the spiritual concepts of Kabbalah...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth8 March 1945
CountryGermany
children house ruins
As a child I had no toys; our house was bombed, but there were lots of bricks. Ruins are wonderful because they are the beginning of something new, you can do something with them.
thinking artist different
History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images.
spiritual age firsts
I was interested in transcendence from a very early age. I was interested in what was over there, what was behind life. So when I had my first communion I was very disappointed. I had expected something amazing and surprising and spiritual. Instead all I got was a bicycle. That wasn't what I was after at all.
art skills technique
As an artist you have to find something that deeply interests you. It's not enough to make art that is about art, to look at Matisse and Picasso and say, how can I paint like them? You have to be obsessed by something that can't come out in any other way, then the other things - the skill and technique - will follow.
depressing political ifs
If I do something that depresses, it's not because I'm depressed, but because political life and history is depressing.
art longing art-is
Art is longing. You never arrive, but you keep going in the hope that you will.
artist ties beginnings-and-ends
What does the artist do? He draws connections. He ties the invisible threads between things. He dives into history, be it the history of mankind, the geological history of the Earth or the beginning and end of the manifest cosmos.
heaven trying continuity
I am interested in reconstructing symbols. It's about connecting with an older knowledge and trying to discover continuities in why we search for heaven,
bricks built clear played project ruined
The reason for this project comes from my childhood, that is clear to me. I did not have any toys. So, I played in the bricks of ruined buildings around me and with which I built houses.
motivated work
But we should also not forget the difference between what first motivated me and the work that is the result.
people
History is formed by the people, those who have power and those without power. Each one of us makes history.
art artist giving
When I see a new artist I give myself a lot of time to reflect and decide whether it's art or not.
believe thinking artist
I am of the opinion that there are artists and non-artists. I think that this is the way it always was and always will be. I do not believe that we are in the center of the world. It is possible that there are gods who do not relate to human. As an artist, I believe that it is possible to depict these forces.
art giving people
Art is difficult. It's not entertainment. There are only a few people who can say something about art - it's very restricted. When I see a new artist I give myself a lot of time to reflect and decide whether it's art or not. Buying art is not understanding art.