Best known for his haunting, dreamlike paintings, German artist Neo Rauch reveals a different side to his practice with a survey of works on paper at the Drawing Center. On view are 170 examples, spanning his 30-year career, and, like his canvases, these pieces were created through a kind of subconscious reverie in which his art is directly pipelined from his imagination. Many of his themes deal with Germany’s past and how it dovetails with his own: Born in 1960, he grew up in Leipzig while it was still part of the former East Germany, making him a witness to the events that preceded and followed the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Do you remember the first drawing you ever made?
Yes. When I was two years old, I drew a picture of a woodpecker. I should try to find it and show it now
Do you separate drawing from painting? How big of a role does the former play in the latter?
I don’t use drawings for preparing paintings or anything. The way I paint and draw is almost the same. I don’t think about what I do; I just let ideas stream through my hand to my brush or pencil. Drawing just happens for me. And, besides, these works are really paintings; they just happen to be paper.
Are there elements that recur from one piece to the next?
Windows and trees, for the most part. But there are also snakes and dragons reappearing in several places, especially in the lower part of the paintings on paper. I suppose I’m trying to suggest something dangerous or uncanny happening there.