(Bad Iburg 1964–lives and works in Düsseldorf)

Dürrenmatt.

Oil on canvas.

Signed central right: Stephan Kaluza.

200 x 200 cm.

Provenance:
- Directly acquired from the artist in 2003 by the present owner.
- Sammlung Prinz von Hohenzollern, Schloss Henley Park, Surrey, Great Britain.

Stefan Kaluza successfully completed wide-ranging studies between 1986 and 1994 at Düsseldorf technical college, as well as a second degree in art history at the Art Academy and philosophy at the Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf. Alongside his studies in painting, Stephan Kaluza also specialised in photography. From 2004 he created a growing number of photographic projects, “based on the mind, compressing complex physical and mental objects photographically in the horizontal format, so that they can be experienced in visual terms.” (Stephan Kaluza 2009). These are mostly in panoramic formats, reinforced by the continuous flow of the rural landscape or processes before the eyes of the viewer. In the painted works, the horizontal movement also appears.

He is known for his portrait paintings of famous personalities, including Nelson Mandela, Oscar Wilde, Peter Ustinov or the author Friedrich Dürrenmatt, as in the work before us. Stephan Kaluza often uses photographic works as his model; he applies a top layer of oil paint horizontally using a spatula technique, and adds incised horizontal lines in the fresh paint, in order to accentuate the flowing movement.

From 2000 to the present, Stephan Kaluza’s work has been exhibited in numerous solo shows as well as group shows. His works are present in public and private collections worldwide.