MANFRED
LUZ

ML is an important representative of the German art scene of his time.  

Having started his career in the late 1940s/early 1950s, today at 92 years of age, his oeuvre encompasses more than seven decades of painting. 

 

Born in 1930, the time of German pre-war depression and poverty, art became his refuge, a means to survive in a world misery and 'ugliness'.

 

After he completed his studies at the art academy in 1955, ML deliberately chose to settle as a painter in the small village in the southwestern part of Germany, near Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg), where he was born.

 

The remoteness and natural beauty of this area was just the right place for him to concentrate and develop his art full of passion and vitality. 

 

In a process of applying a wide array of styles during his formative years, he finally brought forth a unique artistic language that speaks through the masterly handling of bold colours (gouache, watercolour, mixed media, acrylics and charcoal) either on canvas or paper, since the late 1990s primarily in large scale measures. 

 

In the 80ies, he entered a new artistic phase characterised by a very aggressive painting style. This also applies to the choice of topics by picking up natural destruction, the battle of the sexes, political upheaval and provoking social issues. He thus came closest to the style of the German group “Neue Wilde”, also called “obsessive painting” or “Heftige Malerei”.   

 

His formal language ranges from figuration to abstraction, often even merging the two. Although Manfred Luz’ artistic origins can be traced back to European Modernism, one may even see his art related to Hans Hofmann (1880-1966). This German-born and later renowned American artist inspired the most important abstract expressionists with his ideas. Manfred Luz would have agreed to many of Hans Hofmann's views on art, especially that abstract art has “its origins in nature” and his belief in the “spiritual value of art”.