Martin Kippenberger

This is the 27th post in our Artist of the Week series.



Martin Kippenberger was born in 1953 in Germany. He grew up in a family that was very cultured and art-loving family. He eventually dropped out of school and left an apprenticeship as a decorator so that he could spend his time studying art. In 1972 he went on to attend the Hamburg Art Academy.

He started on his first large scale art project in 1976. In 1978 he moved to Berlin where he founded 'Kippenbergers Büro' with Gisela Capitain and managed Club SO 36. It was through this that he met Max Hetzler who would become his agent. In the 1980s he began to create many of his own works and had his first large scale exhibition in 1986.



It was through this that his involvement in art and his own reputation as an artist began to grow. Today he is known for his extremely prolific output of his art and his wide range of styles. He was also known for having a jocular persona that was characterized by heavy drinking.

His major project that he would work on from 1992 until his death in 1997 was a world wide underground railway. He built an entrance in Greece in 1993, another in Canda in 1995 and another at the Leipzig Trade fair in 1997.

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