Joachim Kupke


Joachim Kupke is a German painter and graphic artist. Since the 1970s, he has also worked as a musician, and singer/ songwriter in the band, "If you wanted to".

Life and art

From 1965 to 1967 Joachim Kupke attended the Art School A.L. Merz in Stuttgart. Following this, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart with Rudolf Haegele.
His studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart were followed by a prolonged period of study in the United States. There he worked on a series of photographs showing people in everyday situations. These became material for later work.
  • Columbus/ Ohio, photo, 1971
  • Soft Craws, pencil, tempera and opaque white on cardboard, 1972
Working since 1972 as a freelance painter and graphic artist, Kupke became a Member of the in 1980. At this time he also produced cartoons, which were published in magazines and newspapers including Playboy, der Stuttgarter Zeitung and Pardon. On the publication of his first cartoon strip "Horror Sapiens " in 1977 Joachim Kupke was described as "Höllenfürst der Zeichenfeder".
  • Cartoon, "Horror sapiens", 1977
  • Cartoon, "Geschlossene Gesellschaft", 1983
During this period Kupke produced drawings and oil paintings, which grappled with paintings and art forms in unfamiliar and unusual ways.
After a series of solo and group exhibitions, in 1981 Kupke received a grant from the Arts Foundation of Baden-Württemberg. This was followed by a stipend from the city Sindelfingen in 1986.
In 1995 Joachim Kupke married Sarah Webb, the educationalist and actress. Sarah Kupke has lived in Sindelfingen since 1990, where she is the Head of the International School of Stuttgart, Sindelfingen Campus.

Work

"To begin with, Joachim Kupke’s work is near to photorealism, with a penchant for ludicrous, interconnected motives, seemingly surreal and yet representing the artist’s intrinsic questioning behind the concept of "original". Also, his constant exploration into the nature of modern 20th century art itself. The paradox of "original and reproduction" is part of life and art for Joachim Kupke, and prompts his playful exploration of the concept of "originality". "
  • Für Kläuschen ein schöner Hintergrund von Canaletto, pencil, crayon and paper, 1982
"Joachim Kupke’s works are created in an old master, realistic painting style. They use well-known works of art history, to which the artist feels an intimate relationship; a kind of kinship. They are not ironic re-creations or new creations. Rather, they have much more to do with the authenticity in what is represented and how it has been devaluated though mass media reproduction.
Derived from our knowledge of the exponentially fragmentary nature of our perceptions and their connection with the widespread flood of pictures in all their reproduced manifestations, Kupke posits his technically brilliant commentary on art and art as art, about art.
  • Pour Robert Lebel, Oil on Canvas, 2003
This is also true for the nascent years of the series "Room in Delft ". In these paintings Joachim Kupke transformed into the present, in his own inimitable way, one of the most important painters of European art, Jan Vermeer."
  • Zimmer in Delft, Oil on Canvas, 2006
  • Zimmer in Delft, Oil on Canvas, 2006
  • Zimmer in New York, Oil on Canvas, 2010
  • Zimmer in Delft, Oil on Canvas, 2010
  • Kate Moss in Delft, Oil on Canvas, 2010/2011
  • Allegory of Faith, Oil on Canvas, 2012
  • Silence of Songbirds, Oil on Canvas, 2013/2014
  • Dutch Interior No 1, Oil on Canvas, 2014/ 2015

Solo exhibitions

  • 1972 "Kritischer Realismus", Galerie am Jacobsbrunnen, Stuttgart
  • 1974 Kunstverein Heidenheim, Galerie Akzent
  • 1979 Galerie Walther, Düsseldorf
  • 1983 Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen
  • 1990 Kleine Galerie des Kulturbundes, Torgau
  • 1991 Galerie Zaiss, Aalen
  • 1991 "Bilder", Kunstkreis Spaichingen
  • 1994 "Rätsel des Verständlich Schönen", Galerie Burg, Leinfelden-Musberg
  • 1997 "Ölbilder und Peintagen", Galerie Geiger, Kornwestheim
  • 1999 "Ölbilder und Peintagen", Galerie Burg, Leinfelden-Musberg
  • 2000 "Ölbilder und Peintagen", Galerie Geiger, Konstanz
  • 2000 "Corrected Ready-Mades/ Peintagen", Galerie am Pfleghof, Tübingen
  • 2003 "Kunst.Frauen" Kunstforum Weil der Stadt, Wendelinskapelle
  • 2003 "Kunst.Frauen" Galerie am Pfleghof, Tübingen
  • 2004 "Aperto", Galerie Geiger, Konstanz
  • 2004 "Aperto", Galerie und Edition Zeherit, Dreisslingen-Lauffen
  • 2006 "Das Gesamtwerk", Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen
  • 2007 "Appropriate Appropriations", neue Ölbilder und frühe Fotos, Galerie Geiger, Konstanz
  • 2011 "12 Künstler – 12 Wege. Ausgangspunkt Stuttgarter Kunstakademie", Galerie Schlichtenmaler Stuttgart
  • 2014 "Kate Moss in Delft", Malerei und Zeichnungen, Kultur- und Museumszentrum Schloss Glatt, Sulz am Neckar
  • 2015 "Kate Moss in Delft", Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen
  • 2015 "Kate Moss in Delft", Galerie d'art, Corbeil-Essonnes, France
  • 2017 "Homage to Modern Art", Galerie Schlichtenmaier, Schloss Dätzingen, Grafenau

Selected group exhibitions

Literature

Kupke Imagines, bilingual Book, Introduction by Otto Pannewitz, Photos und Edition: Monika Houck, 2016, Kate Moss in Delft, Text von Otto Pannewitz. Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen, 2014, Das Gesamtwerk, Text von Otto Pannewitz. Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen, 2006 Aperto. Text von Stephan Geiger, Galerie Geiger, Konstanz, 2004 Kunst, Frauen. Text von Veronika Burger, Galerie am Pfleghof, Tübingen, 2003Corrected Ready-Mades. Peintagen Text von Veronika Burger, Galerie am Pfleghof, Tübingen, 2000Rätsel des Verständlich-Schönen. Text von Otto Pannewitz, Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen, 1993, Joachim Kupke. Text von Friedhelm Röttger und Elke Rothmund, Verlag C.F. Rees Heidenheim, 1983Geschlossene Gesellschaft, Texte Verlag Tübingen, 1983, Horror Sapiens. Text von Ruprecht Skasa-Weiss, Texte Verlag Tübingen, 1977, Gereimt ist alles möglich. Text: Braun, Günther; Illustrationen: Kupke, Joachim, Stuttgart, Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1974,