Günter Umberg
Günter Umberg (b. 1942) lives and works in Cologne, Germany and Corberon, France. Umberg received his artistic education in Cologne, Antwerp, and Düsseldorf, and for several years he held a professorship at the Art Academy in Karlsruhe. Umberg is one of the leading artists of our time exploring notions of abstraction, perception and materiality in painting, and is one of the foremost representatives of “Radical painting”, a school which builds on the development of concrete paintings from the 1960s. In the 1970s Umberg started creating monochrome works with unconventional materials and supports.
Biography
Born 1942 in Bonn, Germany
Lives and works in Cologne, Germany and Corberon, France
EDUCATION
2000 – 2007 Professor at der Staatlichen akademie der bildenden künste, Karlsruhe, Germany
1962 – 1969 Fachhochschule für Kunst und Design, Cologne, Germany, Kunstakademie Antwerp, Belgium, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany, Meisterschüler
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023, ZEIT-BILD, A arte Invernizzi, Milan, Italy
2018 De Pictura, A arte Invernizzi, Milan, Italy
2018 PLAN No. 7, Galleri Riis
2017 PLAN No. 3, Fox/Jensen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2017 XF Proyectos (Curated by Marie-Amélie zu Salm-Salm), Madrid, Spain
2016 Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany
2015 Bild Länge–Breite–Höhe–Tiefe, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
2015 Galerie Haas, Zürich, Switzerland
2015 Bernard Frize – Günter Umberg, Fondation Fernet-Branca, St. Louis, France
2015 Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna, Austria
2013 Pittura come corpo e pensiero, A Arte Studio Invernizzi, Milan, Italy
2012 Günter Umberg / Elisabeth Vary, Malerei, Jensen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2011 Territorium. Recent paintings and early works from the Seventies, Galleri Riis, Oslo
2008 Passage, Galerie Nächst St. Stephan, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna, Austria
2007 Bilderhaus 4, Oslo, Galleri Riis, Oslo
2006 Bilderhaus Schattenraum, Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich, Switzerland
2005 Fred Thieler Preis für Malerei 2005: Günter Umberg, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2002 Galerie Rolf Ricke, Cologne, Germany
2001 A arte Invernizzi, Milan, Italy
2000 Body of Painting, Museum Ludwig Köln, Cologne
1997 Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, UK
1994 Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, Sweden
1990 Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, Germany
1986 P.S.1, Institute for Art and Urban Resources Inc., New York, USA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 James White – Günter Umberg, Conversation/s, Fox/Jensen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2018 Blickwechsel, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg, Germany
2018 Carbon, Gabriel de la Mora, Günter Umberg, Ceara Metlikovec, Arik Levy, Fox/Jensen/McCrory Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
2017 Abstract Painting Now, Kunsthalle Krems, Austria
2017 The Collection of Francoiseet Jean Phillipe Billarant, Le Silo, Marines, France
2017 Carbon, Gabriel de Mora, Günter Umberg, Ceara Metlikovec, Arik Levy, Jensen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2016 CLOSE UP, Listening to the inaudible sound of the work, A Arte Invernizzi, Milan, Italy
2016 A Discreet Vessel, Günter Umberg, Jude Rae, Callum Innes, Jensen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2016 A Discreet Vessel, Günter Umberg, Jude Rae, Callum Innes, Jensen Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
2016 Grün stört, Im Fokus einer Farbe, Marta Herford, Germany
2015 The Collection of Francoise et Jean – Philippe Billarant, Le Silo, Marines, France
2015 Präzise Gefühle, Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Ahlen, Germany
2014 Un-thinking Vision, Jude Rae and Günter Umberg, Jensen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2014 Elementare Malerei, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
2014 Morterone, una soglia poetica, Natura Arte Poesia, Musei Civici di Lecco, Luzzana, Italy
2014 Rae, Thornley, Umberg, Roeth, Fox/Jensen Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
2014 Vertigues de la Peinture, Maison des Arts, Ville de Grand Quevilly, Normandy, France
2014 Beyond Black, Setareh Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany
2014 Locchio musicale, A arte Invernizzi, Milan, Italy
2014 Real Work, Henrik Eiben, Günter Umberg, Joan Witek, Galerie Kim Behm, Frankfurt, Germany
2014 Group Exhibition – Yukinori Maeda, Tomohara Murakami, Günter Umberg, Danh Ho, Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2012 Umstülpung – curated by Günter Umberg, Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin, Germany
2011 Die Niederländische Savanne. Alte Meister – Neue Kunst, Staatliches Museum Schwerin, Germany
2007 Lust for Life. Die Sammlung Ricke, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Lichtenstein
2005 What´s New Pussycat, Neuerwerbungen und Sammlung Ströher, MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt Am Main, Germany
2004 Pour un Art Concret, Espace de l’art concret, Mouans Sartoux, France
2003 Perpetuum Mobile – 40 Jahre Galerie Rolf Ricke, Cologne, Germany
1996 Monochromie Geometrie, Sammlung Goetz, Munich, Germany