“I think in pictures before I think in speech. Before thinking in pictures I think in abstract motions. The content of such motions is abstract gesture. Such abstract gestures are what interests me.”
A. R. Penck, born Ralf Winkler in Dresden in 1939, developed a radical visual language shaped by his early experiences of war and life under East German rule. Trained informally after being denied access to official academies, he created his Standart system of stick figures, symbols and signs, aiming for a universal artistic language that reflected the political and social divisions of the Cold War. Smuggling his work to the West under the pseudonym A. R. Penck, he gained international recognition in the late 1960s and emigrated in 1980. Closely associated with Neo-Expressionism, he worked across painting, sculpture, writing and music, exhibiting in landmark shows such as documenta and the Venice Biennale. Penck died in Zürich in 2017. His work is now part of major museum and private collections worldwide.