Discover the contemporary work of Holger Wittig-Koppe

Born in 1947. Started his own artistic work in 1964. Individual lessons with Eberhard Oertel, who was my art teacher in the last three years of school. 1967 Started studying social sciences. 1969 - 1970 Studied in Frankfurt, parallel lessons in free painting at the Free Art School in Wiesbaden. During this time I painted abstract pictures. As this seemed increasingly meaningless to me, I stopped painting in 1972 and destroyed the resulting pictures. 1975 Resumed painting alongside my professional activity. Objective pictures, especially landscapes. As these seemed too beautiful and meaningless in the long run, I stopped and destroyed them again in 1996. 2004 New start, as I had found a way to translate my critical view of the state of our society into an artistic form that seemed coherent to me. Mainly figurative compositions, but also individual landscapes. Several smaller solo exhibitions. In 2014, a major exhibition of works at the artegrale, Kiel. In 2023 and 2024, participation in the Ostholstein district exhibition. 2023, solo exhibition at the Malente project center. Since 2023, regular exhibitions at the Onil Gallery in Bremen.

In my paintings, I bring the critical view of the social scientist into dialogue with the imagination of the artist. This creates a form of applied art that encourages us to look behind the facades of our social life. All the contradictions, fears, worries and hardships of our everyday life become visible. The sadness in all the happiness, the loneliness in socializing can be found in my pictures, as can the merciless competition or rivalry that can even lead to violence. In addition to very existential questions such as death, raising children or the relationship between the sexes, there are also political themes in my pictures such as power and domination, war and persecution, flight and oppression or whatever is troubling us in current events in the world. In order to be able to reflect reality critically, it is not very helpful to cultivate a painting style that tries to imitate reality. I have found a form of expressive realism for myself that allows me to express my perceptions artistically. Now and then, surrealist elements also flow into my pictures. Basically, however, they retain a certain openness in the depiction, which gives the viewer room for their own interpretations. My main technique is oil painting. But I also create works on paper. Here I use watercolors, gouaches or even acrylic paints.