Following major solo exhibitions in the Metropolitan in New York, the Pinakothek in Munich, and the Leipzig museum of art, BOZAR EXPO presents the first exhibition in Belgium of work by this internationally popular artist, a key pioneer of the Neue Leipziger Schule. Neo Rauch (born in Leipzig in 1960) is known for his puzzling, seemingly narrative paintings. The people in them are busy with something or other; they don’t seem to entirely fit in with their surroundings. Rauch has developed a highly individual style, a mix of realism, abstraction with a surrealist touch, and influences from pop art and comic strips. His dreamlike compositions seem to be peopled by memories of the GDR. “My paintings have something vital about them, like an animal, a living thing,” says Rauch. “You don’t have to understand them, just to feel that this creation, to the greatest possible extent, is at peace with itself.” Following the success with Belgian exhibitiongoers of the Luc Tuymans exhibition, BOZAR is keen to introduce them to this German artist, a kindred spirit with a highly individual visual idiom.

Curator: Harald Kunde