Anselm Kiefer

Anselm Kiefer is a renowned German painter and sculptor. His thought-provoking works incorporate a range of materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. The poems of Paul Celan have played a role in developing Kiefer's themes of German history and the horrors of the Holocaust, as have the spiritual concepts of Kabbalah. Kiefer's works are characterised by an unflinching willingness to confront his culture's dark past,and unrealised potential in works that are often done on a large, confrontational scale. In his works, one can find signatures and names of people of historical importance, legendary figures or historical places. All of these may be interpreted as encoded sigils through which Kiefer seeks to process the past; this has resulted in his work being linked with the movements like New Symbolism and Neo–Expressionism. Kiefer has lived and worked in France since 1992.