Konrad Klapheck Biography
Konrad Klapheck is a German artist born in Dusseldorf in 1935. He studied Art History at the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf and subsequently took a painting course with Professor Bruno Goller at the same academy between 1954-1958. In 1956 he met Max Ernst and had the opportunity to exhibit his works in Paris together with the group of Surrealist painters, which also included André Breton. Klapheck presented his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Schmela in Dusseldorf in 1959 and began a collaboration with Arturo Schwarz, exhibiting his works in the Milan Gallery in solo exhibitions in 1960, 1963, 1968 and 1972. Since 1979, the artist he was a professor of painting at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf.
In his works, Klapheck represents the mechanical world of small domestic and office tools, exploring the theme of the masculine and the feminine through the objects of everyday life. With an analytical and lucid gaze, the objects he represents emerge in a hieratic solitude, becoming metaphors of the greatness and miseries of man. These objects can be applied to both sexes, such as typewriters and tools for men, or irons and sewing machines for women. Klapheck also represents the world of childhood through bicycle bells, which evoke the magic of childhood memories. His works are real portraits, often self-portraits, and are accompanied by a title that describes and summarizes them.
