ROMAN KLONEK is one of the leading representatives of the German printmaking scene. Looking at Klonek’s work, one quickly recognizes his preference for reduced forms and animal-like beings, which are sometimes reminiscent of the birth of comics.

From March 11th to April 23rd, Jörg Heitsch will be showing new woodcuts by Roman Klonek.

On his travels to foreign worlds, Roman Klonek looks for those encounters with the unknown. He uses a visual language from concrete and abstract painting, partly with pop art colors and narrative elements.

Klonek’s fascination with hybrid creatures, fantasy characters and graphic imagery dates back to his childhood, which was shaped by Russian and Polish cartoons.

In the contemporary art scene, Roman Klonek is considered to be one of the most outstanding artists who work with the printing technique “woodcut”. The woodcut developed as an actual art form as early as the 8th century in Japan, but also has a long tradition in Germany from Albrecht Dürer to Karl Schmidt Rottluff to Jörg Immendorf.

In view of the current art trends, which are strongly influenced by the variety of digital possibilities, Klonek represents a special position here. The artist has specialized in the so-called “lost cut”. In this process, the different color planes of the image are printed layer by layer on the substrate by gradually removing them – and using a single printing plate. In several work steps, a multicolored image is created in an exclusive edition of a maximum of 8 copies. The editions, which are individually hand-printed and which have their own special features due to each color print, are therefore considered originals.