Jürgen Köhler

Since the beginning of his career as an artist, Jürgen Köhler has focused entirely on drawing. Although he is thoroughly familiar with the iconography of art history, his works lack any sense of virtuosity, recalling children’s drawings or surreal, medieval allegories. On the other hand, however, they often appear carefully controlled and constructed; lines drawn with a ruler are not uncommon. Whether in his strange figurations, which do not stem solely from the European understanding of imagery, or in his ‘City Scapes’ – abstractions inspired by urban structures – Jürgen Köhler creates images that touch upon our hidden and buried memories, fantasies and fears. His works contain nothing ideological, no agenda, no message. They are rooted in the depths of the unconscious; their interpretation and the way they speak to the mind through the senses will vary greatly from viewer to viewer.

The exhibition and catalogue are a joint project between Galerie Pankow Berlin and the Leonhardi Museum in Dresden.

Biographical
Jürgen Köhler was born in Halle in 1954 and studied civil engineering in Dresden and later painting at the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art. From 1986 to 1989, he was a master student at the Academy of Arts of the GDR. In 2004, he was awarded the Egmont Schäfer Prize for Drawing. The artist lives and works in Berlin.