Michael Heckert

Michael Heckert ( born October 29, 1950 in Halle an der Saale) is a contemporary painter who is devoted to abstract expressionism. Content, the most sensitive artists involved in the phenomenon of the feminine. Here, he was influenced at the beginning of the US- American painter Willem de Kooning.

Life

Growing up is Michael Heckert in East Westphalia, where he completed a commercial apprenticeship. Subsequently, he studied from 1976 to 1982 at the HBK Braunschweig with Professors Alfred Winter Rust, Lienhard of Monkiewitsch and Peter Voigt painting. He then worked as a freelance artist in Cologne, Bonn and Port -au -Prince, Haiti. Current studio location is Bad Honnef.

Even as a child he discovered his extraordinary artistic talent for painting and so impressed family, friends, teachers and classmates. For him, it was clear to become a painter. His parents regarded his passion as " unprofitable art ", forcing him to an apprenticeship as a wholesale and foreign trade merchant to support the parental household financially. After eleven little successful years in this profession, he managed despite a Hauptschule, complete a study of the liberal arts in the HBK Braunschweig with excellence.

His first exhibition in Cologne in 1982 at the Galerie Heinz Holtmann, who was also his first gallery owner, was a great success, which many more joined. His longing for infinity in expression led in 1984 to a change in his style of painting: he turned away from the halbfigürlichen painting and sought his expression in painting completely abstract to realize. Despite the strong influence de Kooning he developed his own form for its artistic content. Exhibitions at home and abroad followed, as well as traveling through the USA, Caribbean, South America.

Personal reasons led the artist from 2007 to 2012 to Haiti, residing in the capital, Port -au -Prince, where he met with new experiences and challenges. The local art, which mainly deals with voodoo and the daily lives of the Haitian people, inspired him less. Impressive was for him the Caribbean life style, lobbying for his art rather the local colors: the blue of the sky daily, the everlasting green of the vegetation, the shiny black sweaty skin of Haiti Ander, the blood red of the domestic porch floor. A decisive break learned the artist but by the earthquake of 2010. 's Experience of one's own mortality in the face of this disaster by political unrest, hurricanes, cholera epidemics and the ongoing trauma of the quake changed his attitude to one's own life and forced a new perspective on his art. The result was a return to his already begun in the 90s Fotoübermalungen, which he now goal for and consistently led. He developed a new form of connection between photography and painting.

In recent years, Heckert discovered his father's roots going back several centuries to the glassworks industry in the Giant Mountains, Berlin and Eastern Europe. Heckert's ancestors were predominantly involved in glass production, from the window to award-winning arts and crafts products. The Second World War and the founding of the GDR destroyed the dynasty.

Works (selection)

Solo Exhibitions

Group Exhibitions

Awards and Scholarships

Works in collections (selection)

• Museum Ludwig Cologne
• German Bank, Frankfurt / Main
• State Government Hanover
• University Museum, Marburg
• Savings Bank Cuxhaven
• IKB Bank, Dusseldorf
• Lingenbrink, Hamburg
• Federal Foreign Office, Berlin
• Numerous private collections