The New Leipzig School

Bretter, 2005,

David Schnel

Theater, 2003

Christoph Ruckhäberle

Diktat, 2004

Neo Rauch

Das Neue, 2003

Neo Rauch

"...he was young enough to absorb the imagery of comic books, television and computer graphics that shaped the stylistic tastes of his generation. He was a bridge between the older political painters of the G.D.R. and the young artists of a unified Germany." -on Neo Rauch, from an old New York Times article, The New Leipzig School

more from the article:

"They (the old Leipzig School artists) resorted to symbols to express a veiled criticism of their society without sacrificing their privileged status."

Icarus (by engraving by Hendrick Goltzius)

"The paintings convey a mood, not a message."

Die Stickerin, 2008

Neo Rauch

"The old clichés of painting at night with a bottle of wine, taking drugs and being excessive - a lot of people in Düsseldorf think this is what it means to be an artist." In Leipzig, being a painter means working slowly and deliberately, like Rauch, to produce 15 or 20 canvases a year."

extremely well put, on his paintings:

"There is a sense of isolation that goes on in his picture space... Wildly theatrical, the paintings demand that the viewer's eye jump nervously to take in concurrently played, weirdly suggestive but ultimately inexplicable activities."

Para, 2007

Neo Rauch from his Para Series

"It seems to me that I am drawn back further and further, that elements from distant periods are knocking on the door and want to be let in," he says. "That is also reflected in my dreams, that I am drawn back to earlier lives. The incarnation cycles are trying to reach formulation." Asked if he believes that he led previous lives, he replies: "Not as direct as that, but I have recurring dreams in the same rooms and same houses and same streets. What you see in the picture is not the dream but a new version of the dream, like from a recycling plant."

Vater (Father), 2007

Neo Rauch (mmm... notice them Bacon hands?)

"In painting "Characteristic, suggestion and eternity" are important marks of quality"

-Neo Rauch