Neo Rauch (born 1960 in Leipzig) is considered the most prominent representative of the New Leipzig School. His work draws inspiration from diverse contexts, which can be of a historical, socio-political or cultural nature, and – from surrealism to historical painting to realism – contain various references to art history. Like a collage, Rauch assembles narrative scenes into complex compositions that are by no means clearly decipherable, but rather appear mysterious and offer different possibilities of interpretation. The subconscious plays a decisive role in Rauch's dream-like paintings, in which enigmatic figures and landscapes are combined from seemingly different levels of time, space and meaning. The human experiences and realities reflected in them leave room for a contradictory, critical or identifying way of looking at the pictures.
Neo Rauch studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig in the 1980s, where he later taught as a professor. Solo exhibitions of the artist have been presented in renowned museums, e.g. the Des Moines Art Center, Iowa; The Drawing Center, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montreal, Montreal; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Albertina, Vienna; and Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin.
Rauch’s work is included in renowned collections, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art/Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Stedeljik Museum, Amsterdam; Denver Art Museum, Denver; Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg; Rubell Family Collection, Miami/Washington D.C. and Friedrich Christian Flick Collection, Zurich/Berlin.
