1969, 1970

First two solo exhibitions in Bayreuth. One featuring drawings and paintings, the other wooden sculptures.

1972

Exhibition of wax crayon works in a small gallery in Cologne.

1988

Initiation of proprietary software and algorithm development for creating digital art.

1990 - 1994

Presented various exhibitions of my digital art series "Complex Compositions"in galleries and companies in Düsseldorf and Bonn.

1995

Participated in a dance performance collaboration with choreographer and dancer Karin Hermes on the "Complex Compositions" project in Paris, showcasing an animated image composition of digital art.

1996

Collaborated with choreographer and dancer Karin Hermes on the "hEaRtBeAt" dance project, featuring animated computer images with digitally generated sound tracks, showcased at Stollwerk Cologne.

1996

Held a solo exhibition of digital art at BAT Casino Gallery, Bayreuth.

1998

First ceramic works including the first samples of the "Zangenhunde". Later mastering the limitations of my ceramic kiln through multipart sculptures. My efforts in digital art came to a standstill due to low resonance in the art scene.

2003

Created my largest sculpture made of bronze and aluminum for the entrance hall of the headquarters and engineering center of Getrag-Ford Transmissions, Cologne. To realize this project in a tight time frame I utilized Computer Aided Design tools and CNC machine technology.

2006

Participation with two ceramic sculptures in the EVBK art exhibition in Prüm.

2007

Participation in the 57th Bayreuth Art Exhibition.

2008

Participation in the 58th Bayreuth Art Exhibition.

2010 May 21 to June 4

Solo exhibition at KunstPalais Badenweiler featuring sculptures made of marble, black slate, and oak wood.

2010, 2011, 2017, 2018

Projects with the company Schlaeger, Bayreuth: Development of a comic for child-friendly illustration of production processes in the company, photo projects for large-format (25m x 8m) decoration of factory hall walls with nature motifs from the local surroundings, development of a digital sculpture.

2014 - ongoing

Photography project to document the very old olive trees of Puglia, Italy

2023 - ongoing

"Wild A.I. Ride" project for digital art utilising artificial intelligence systems

2023 - ongoing

Work in progress of ceramics project crafting vase sculptures and objects

2024 February 22 - 25

Participation at the deeep AI Art Fair in Paris, Lezar House Galery exhibiting one of my artworks

Wild A.I. ride very much captures the essence of my engagement with Artificial Intelligence (AI) system. In the following text I introduce you to my work, and my view on its theoretical and practical background.

Genesis of My Digital Art

During the late 1980s, I began my journey into digital art. By the early 1990s, I introduced my first digital art series, "Complex Compositions." The images within this series were generated using a program system I developed exclusively for digital art rendering. The render core used recursive algorithms and a math interpreter. In the following years, my artwork was exhibited at various locations, with solo exhibitions at the Düsseldorf office of Sun Microsystems and the B.A.T. Gallery in Bayreuth.

Generating Abstract Art with an AI System

Currently, intense debates surround creative work involving AI systems. Based on many months of work experiences let me share my viewpoint on this subject. Modern AI lacks consciousness, rendering it incapable of spontaneously initiating creative processes or generating novel concepts on it's own. Nevertheless, AI can serve as a remarkable tool, accelerating and supporting creative endeavors driven by human users. Drawing from vast data repositories, AI often offers unconventional solutions beyond human imagination. While some might label this as creativity, I contend that these approaches remained undiscovered by humans due to their limitations or biases.

AI stands out as one of the most sophisticated and refined tools humanity has ever devised. For an artist, it unveils a realm of boundless possibilities. My artistic process, however, starkly diverges from manual painting or the programming work required for my earlier digital art. Working with AI often evokes parallels to the role of a plant or animal breeder. They deliberately harness evolutionary methods to enhance or eliminate specific traits, akin to transforming unremarkable plants with inconspicuous flowers into magnificent blooms.

My digital art process unfolds as follows: I commence with initial images serving as the AI's foundation. I select, create, or manipulate them in accordance with my creative vision. These images, accompanied by execution instructions, serve as the AI system's input. After processing the data, it generates an array of image suggestions. If one captivates me, I save it for later refinement; otherwise, I prompt the AI for further suggestions. This iterative cycle continues until the generated images align closely with my initial concept. Throughout this process, I employ two essential creative principles: mutation and crossover. Crossover involves merging outcomes from different image paths into the AI's input, while mutation entails manual adjustments to an AI-generated image, reintroducing it to the system. In addition to the modifications I make to the images, I utilize an aspect of storytelling or fantasizing, which is generally considered undesirable in purely text-based AI systems. In this context, the system provides responses that lack any factual basis but still seem believable and accurate without further scrutiny. When generating abstract images, this "quirk" can lead to fascinating effects, textures, or shapes reminiscent of the blending of undried colors in watercolor painting like so many other random-based working techniques which may render beautiful effects. All these methods vastly expand the realm of my creative possibilities. The challenge here is to maintain an overview and to preserve one's own signature or style.

An article on this subject, delving into painter David Salle's AI experiences, was recently published in the New York Times.

My Aesthetic

Characteristic of my work are organic lines and shapes that flow harmoniously, dissipate into sharp tentacles or spikes, intersect, or form, when many of them run parallel, surfaces or structures. I often create color areas from finely dotted, linear, or ring-shaped textures. This results in patterns of shapes and lines reminiscent of those found in the paintings of indigenous cultures.

It may sound easy to describe all of this, but realizing it with AI was a challenge. While it's relatively simple to emulate the styles of artists like Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, Picasso, and many others, and produce works that bear resemblance to their masterpieces, my approach aims to push the AI to the limits of its trained boundaries and encourage it to fantasize. This requires patience, perseverance, and experience. A significant portion of these qualities remains also invisibly embedded in each artwork :-).

Abstract art can only be recognized as such by a human observer with corresponding sociocultural preconceptions. The artwork "emerges" in the mind of each observer in their own unique way. What message can be conveyed through abstract painting? Certainly not complex rational messages, but rather emotions and impressions such as chaos, order, aggression, defense, and comfort. These are the imaginary colors of my paintings that each individual can discover for themselves. It aims to reach deeper levels of the mind and trigger a resonance there. I view my works as a form of visual music. At times, they can be highly harmonious, then shift to something akin to blues or jazz, and occasionally, they may appear sharp and dissonant. Relax, don't rely on your intellect, and try to sense the mood. Enjoy the moment.

My artistic journey extends beyond the realm of digital art, commencing decades ago with solo exhibitions in the 1970s showcasing surrealistic paintings and wood sculptures. Since then, my creative pursuits have evolved, embracing a diverse array of mediums spanning both the tangible and digital domains.

In my physical portfolio, you'll find an array of stone, wood, and ceramic objects and sculptures. Alongside my exploration of AI art, I am currently engaged in a ceramics and a photography project.

Concurrent Projects

Inspired by the ceramic works of Magdalene Odundo, I embarked upon a ceramics project several years prior, concentrating on the design and creation of vases, various objects, and small-scale sculptures.
The aesthetic foundation of my vase designs is deliberately shaped by symmetries associated with the prime numbers 3, 5, and 7. Although trilateral symmetry is a rarity within the more familiar flora and fauna, it finds expression in certain floral species and microorganisms.
Such trilateral symmetry unveils novel design avenues, endowing objects with a dynamic visual impression that evolves within a 120-degree angular range around their symmetrical axis. Trilateral symmetries permit an elegant interplay with varying formal harmonies. When a slight twist is added to the trilateral form, the appearance of an object alternates between symmetric and asymmetric depending on the viewing angle. I am captivated by this effect because it allows me to perceive varied form characteristics and contrasting harmonies by simply changing my point of view. Upon first encountering this phenomenon, I resolved to incorporate it as a key attribute in the design of many of my future vases.
In my prevailing workflow, digital design and modeling tools are employed to envisage and refine my concepts. These designs are subsequently brought to life by 3D printing plastic molds, which are then used to cast gypsum drape molds. This method is favored over direct 3D printing of clay due to its superior surface finish and expedited production time. Each drape mold represents a third of the vase's body, necessitating three leather-hard clay segments to complete a single vase. The final assembly and additional sculpting of the vase are executed using conventional manual pottery techniques.

During a journey through Puglia in southern Italy in 2014, I encountered some very old olive tree for the first time. The fascination it sparked within me led to the initiation of a photography project that I have pursued since then, aimed at documenting a collection of these millennia-old trees.

Stages in My Artistic Journey

The following 18 images each depict a piece representative of a section in my artistic endeavor. When the mouse pointer hovers over one of the tiles, a text with the corresponding years and information will be displayed beneath the tile field.

How and Where to Buy

"My digital art is exclusively available as NFTs, sold solely through selected platforms like OpenSea. When pieces are available for sale within a collection, I announce it on X, Instagram, and this website. You'll find a link to the respective NFT sales platform in the red-bordered box titled "Sale" below.
Ceramic and photography works are unfortunately not available for sale at the moment!

Currently no sales