Flammen (Flames), 1980–2004

A.R. Penck is a German sculptor, printmaker, painter and jazz percussionist. His early artistic education took place with other neo-expressionist painters in the city of Dresden, and he joined such figures as Georg Baselitz, Joerg Immendorff and Markus Luepertz, all of whom were considered as instigators of dissident by the East German government.
Their work appeared in several West Berlin shows in the 1970s, moving on to major galleries and museums in Western Europe in the 1980s, most famously in the "New Art" show at London's Tate Gallery in 1983. In the 1980s, A.R. Penck was known for paintings featuring human forms drawn with neo-primitivist design, including pictographic elements, human figures and other forms that appear on totems. His work continued to show up in many significant shows in New York City and London. A.R. Penck’s sculpture is less well known but expresses the same ideas as his drawings and paintings in terms of primitivism. His sculptures incorporate everyday materials such as cardboard, bottles, tin cans and wood, and they show crude assembly methods to evoke that primitive ambiance.