K.H. Hödicke  (German, 1938) 

Karl Horst Hödicke (German, b.1938) is a key artist in the German Neo expressionism and Neue Figuration movements. Born in Nuremberg, Germany he began studying architecture at the Technische Universität (TU) Berlin in 1959 and then switched to the Hochschule der Künste Berlin where he studied painting under Fred Thieler. He joined the group Vision in 1961 with artist Bernd Koberling and the Gallerie Großgörschen 35 with Koberling and Markus Lüpertz. In the same year Hödicke received the German Art Award for Youth Painting. During this time Hödicke’s work was combining both a figurative and abstract elements. After returning from New York, NY, where he spent a year making several experimental films, Hödicke received the Villa Massimo scholarship in 1968. His return to Europe was marked by a change in his technique as he began experimenting with plastic processes. This change is especially apparent in his 1972 work, Kalter Fluss, which consisted of buckets of tar being poured from the ceiling and walls. From 1974 to 2006 he worked as a painting professor at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin. During this time he won the German Critic’s prize in 1983 and the Fred Thieler Prize for Painting in 1998. He currently lives and works in Berlin.