Frank Rödel
Weimar, Germany
3 Works exhibited on Kooness
Current location
Berlin
Represented by
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Works by Frank Rödel
He is - as the major German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) writes about the artist Frank Rödel - "certainly one of the most widely travelled visual artists of our time, familiar with all topographies and climate zones". He travelled through the Sahara in a jeep, was travelling with the research icebreaker Polarstern, and undertook expeditions to the remote polar regions of Greenland, Iceland and Antarctica. Landscape has become the artist's central theme. The FAZ refers to his art as a “portrait of the earth” – and of the clash of opposing elements in his painting: the confrontation between nature and man. Beauty against violence and “indifferent, cold, cruel lack of empathy”. Frank Rödel's art is inspired by photographs and he uses drones to create a special perception of space and an extraordinary view of structures and distortions in nature. Both in his paintings and in his photographs, seascapes and stretches of land appear with a sometimes dramatic intensity and wild presence. What makes Frank Rödel's pictures so unusual, so fascinating, but also so unsettling? It is probably the ambivalence between an enthusiasm for nature, which is at the same time imbued with melancholy, but also sadness and pain, and the direct experience of a nature that has been severely damaged by human civilisation and is in a state of flux.
1954 Born in Weimar 1982 – 1988 Studied at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin (Berlin University of Art) 1987 Scholarship from the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Rendsburg 1988 Pupil in a master class with Prof. Oppermann 1991 Studio scholarship in Schloß Salzau in Schleswig-Holstein 1991 – 1993 Karl-Hofer scholarship 1991 – 1997 Work contracts from the Berlin Senate 1992 Work scholarship in San Sebastian, Spain 1994 International symposium on art and politics, Aspen Institute, Colorado, USA Studio scholarship from the city of Dinan, France 1995 Work scholarship, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Colorado, USA International symposium on arts and politics, AspenInstitute, Berlin 1999 Guest scholarship from the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Cadenabbia, Italy 2001 Teaching job at the university” Ragamangala Institute of Technology” Department of Fine Arts, Bangkok, Thailand 2002 Studio scholarship (Artist in Residence Program) of the Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand 2003 As the “Detlev Rohwedder Preis”, the painting “Berlin1” of Frank Rödel was awarded to Vicente Fox, President of the Republic of Mexico, by the German Minister of Economy. 2005 Artistic design of the personal “Buddy-Bear” sculpture of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Horst Köhler, and trip to Tokyo with the president for the signing of the bear sculpture by himself and the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, at the opening of the “Germany in Japan 2005/2006” year in Tokyo. Work and study stay in the guesthouse of the (OAG) in Kobe, Japan, by invitation of the “German Society of Natural Sciences and Ethnology in East Asia”. 2005 The picture “Eagle V” is presented to US President George W. Bush as the official gift from the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on the occasion of his state visit to the USA. Invitation from Thailand´s Ministry of Culture and the Germany Embassy in Bangkok on the occasion of the “International Art on the Beach Project”, Phuket, Thailand. 2006 Study trip to the “Künstlerhaus am See” (House of Artists) by invitation of the “European Forum Lucerne” and the German Embassy, Lucerne, Switzerland. 2007 “Artist in Residence” studio scholarship, awarded by the Upernarvik Museum, Upernarvik, Greenland. Stage design for the Quadriga Prize Awards Ceremony 2007 in the “Komische Oper”, Berlin, and creation of a painting for each of the four prize-winners, amongst them Queen Silvia of Sweden and former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The painting entitled “Vision Berlin” is presented as the official gift of the Federal Government to the President of the Republic of Mozambique, Armando Emilio Guebuza, on the occasion of his state visit to Berlin. Others to the President of Brazil, da Silva Lula, to Beatrix of the Netherlands and the President of Ireland Mary Patricia McAleese 2009 Scholarship from the „Fundación Valparaíso“, Spain “Artist in Residence” studio scholarship, awarded by the “Bear Art Center”, Iceland 2010 “Artist in Residence” studio scholarship, awarded “SAMBAND ÍSLENSKRA MYNDLISTARMANNA SÍM”, Reykjavik, Iceland „Breakthrough Art Project“, Exhibitions and symposiums on “Twenty Years After German Unification“ Nashville, Aspen, Washington DC, San Antonio und Chicago, USA 2010/11 11-weeks antarctic expedition as an”Artist in Residence” with the research icebreaker “Polarstern” of the “Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar Research” 2011 Studio scholarship, awarded by the „Goetheinstitut Georgien“ in Alvani, Georgia Award Winnerof the 5. Tashkent “International Biennale of Contemmporary Art“, Uzbekistan 2012 The painting entitled “Kaleidoskop Berlin” is presented as the official gift of the Federal Government to the President of the Republic of Italy, Georgio Napolitano, on the occasion of his state visit to Berlin. 2013 Journey to and work on Isfahan in Iran at the invitation of the Cultural Department of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran 2015 Documentary about the emergence of the “Isfahan pictures” by the Arab Channel “Al Jazeera” 2017 Prize winner of the “Tashkent International Festival of Arts 2017” 2021/22 The “900 seconds Production”, based in Munich and Berlin, shot a five-part documentary about my work in the studio and my experiences while traveling: 2023 Full-page article in the FAZ, “Earth Portrait” by Gerald Felber, Page Z6 – Saturday, February 4, 2023 – No. 30 “Pictures and Times”
Tashkent International Festival of Arts 2017