Neo Rauch Biography:

Neo Rauch (born 18 April 1960, in Leipzig, Germany) is a German artist whose paintings mine the intersection of his personal history with the politics of industrial alienation. His work reflects the influence of socialist realism, and owes a debt to Surrealists Giorgio de Chirico and René Magritte, although Rauch hesitates to align himself with surrealism. He studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, and he lives in Markkleeberg near Leipzig, Germany and works as the principal artist of the New Leipzig School at present. The artist is represented by David Zwirner, New York.

Neo Rauch is considered to be part of the New Leipzig School and his painting works are characterized by a style that depends on the Social Realism of communism. Especially American critics prefer to recognize in his contemporary style a post communist Surrealism. But more than anyone Neo Rauch is recognized as an East-West painter. He merges the modern myths of both the Warsaw Pact and the Western world. His figures are portrayed in a landscape in which an American Comic-Aestheticism meets the Social Realism of communism. In the art publication "Texte zur Kunst“ (Texts about Art, number 55) he was defined as an example for a new German neo-conservatism.

One of his promoters, Roberta Smith who is the journalist for the New York Times, caused great enthusiasm in the US for Neo Rauch's painting works with an article about the "painter, who came from the cold." Rauch's painting works are in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and have been shown in numerous solo exhibitions, including one at the Wiener Albertina.

Neo Rauch won the Vincent Award in 2002. His painting work was featured at the 2005 Carnegie International in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and he had his first solo North American museum exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003-2004. His first Canadian exhibit was held at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in 2006.

In 2007 Neo Rauch created a series of works especially for a solo exhibition in the mezzanine of the modern art wing at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. This special exhibition was called "Para." Rauch explained that he enjoyed the associations the word "para" evokes in his own mind, and said that his works at "Para" have no particular intention, but that they could signify anything to anyone.  (Neo Rauch Biography)

Awards that were won by Neo Rauch:
1) 1992 Renta-Preis 1992, Nürnberg
2) 1997 Kunstpreis der Leipziger Volkszeitung, Leipzig
3) 2002 Vincent van Gogh Bi-annual award for Contemporary Art in Europe, Bonnefanten Museum Maastricht, Netherlands
4) 2005 Kunstpreis Finkenwerder
5) 2010 Stiftungspreis der ökumenischen Stiftung Bibel und Kultur 2010, Stuttgart

Tags: Neo Rauch Biography, Neo Rauch Artist, Neo Rauch Museum, New Leipzig School

Refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Rauch