Rolf Rose
Rolf Rose's early decision to abandon figurative painting and thus renounce any likeness led him to make colour itself the subject of his paintings. In this way, the painter has created his own form of what at first sight appears to be "monochrome" painting, in which he examines colour for effects and interactions with light. In one of the steadily continuing series of works, Rose applies the paint material in several layers impasto onto the canvases or wooden blocks and then works the surface with different spatulas. By dragging these through the wet paint, he creates relief-like, linear structures whose horizontal, vertical or curved furrows take up the entire surface of the painting and lively structure the picture surface. In the slight waves and irregularities of the surface, the light spreads out and makes layers of colour glow, the surfaces become downright plastic. What may seem monochrome at first glance turns out to be polychrome on closer examination and shows how colour, light, body and space are interdependent. Colours often appear in the works, gradually changing the basic tone of the first perception. At the side edges of many painting’s supports, the coloured layers reveal themselves and refer to the manifold working process. Through minimal variations as well as the use of graphite dust, Rose creates a play of light and shadow within his colour fields. Surfaces, in which cloudy and shiny parts enter into an interplay, oscillate differently with the light, which further intensifies the spatial impression of the paintings. In another series of works, the artist uses lacquer to create pulsating, luminous bodies of colour with spatial depth. Here, the glossy surfaces reflect the light as directly as a mirror surface, while the matt acrylic paintings absorb it and radiate it more indirectly, more physically onto their surroundings.
Going beyond materiality and surface structure, leaving the purely visible far behind, the painter's main concern is to experience the immaterial, the numinous, which is inherent in his paintings.
Rolf Rose's works have long been known to the people of Hamburg and have had a permanent place in the Kunsthalle since 1978. His works can be found in various public collections, in Hamburg in the Kunsthalle and the Falckenberg Collection; but also in the Kunstmuseum Bonn; Museum Weserburg, Bremen; Osthaus Museum, Hagen; Neue Galerie, Kassel; Kieler Kunsthalle; Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig; Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen; Lenbachhaus, Munich.
Born 1933 in Halberstadt. Lives and works in Krempe near Hamburg.
Awards and Grants
| 1995 | Edwin-Scharff-Prize, Kunsthaus Hamburg |
| 1981 | Scholarship of the Free City of Hamburg |
Public Purchases
Kunstmuseum Ahlen
Szépmüvészeti Múzeum – Vasarely Múzeum, Budapest
Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen
Sammlung Sparkasse Stade-Altes Land
Phoenix-Kulturstiftung, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg-Harburg
Daros Collection, Zurich
Kunstmuseum, Bonn
Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig
Lenbachhaus, Munich
Landesmuseum, Mainz
Neue Galerie, Kassel
Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum, Hagen
Museum Würth, Künzelsau
Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt/M.
Bank für Wiederaufbau
Bayrische Hypotheken und Wechselbank
Außenministerium, Gästehaus Petersberg
Bundesregierung Bonn
Museum Weserburg, Bremen
Schloß Gottorp
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum
Kieler Kunsthalle
Hamburger Kunsthalle
Solo exhibitions
| 2019 | Galerie Floss & Schultz, Cologne |
| 2017 | Black Matter, Museum gegenstandsfreier Kunst Otterndorf Cantus Firmus, Galerie Nanna Preußners and Barlach Halle K, Hamburg |
| 2016 | Das Nichtvorhandene im Vorhandenen, Galerie Floss & Schultz, Cologne |
| 2015 | Works on Paper, Galerie Nanna Preußners, Hamburg (with Joe Barnes) |
| 2014 | Rolf Rose mit Astrid Lincke-Zukunft, Larsson, Floss & Schultz, Cologne |
| 2013 | Sammlung Loch, Berlin |
| 2012 | Linien, Sonderausstellung im Rahmen der 347./348. Bilderwahl der Griffelkunst in der Galerie der Stadtscheune, Otterndorf |
| 2011 | Cantus Firmus, haw galleri, Aventoft |
| 2010 | PAINT AND SHAPE OF COLOR, Galerie Rupert Walser, Munich /2005/2001/1997 |
| 2009 | SAM, Selectedartmodels, Cologne, wallpainting |
| 2008 | Galerie Levy, Hamburg |
| 2007 | Bleibtreu Galerie, Berlin |
| 2003 | Kunsthalle Hamburg, Galerie der Gegenwart, Hamburg |
| 2002 | Galerie Jürgen Becker, Hamburg /1997/1992 |
| 2001 | Galerie Brandstetter & Wyss, Zurich /1999 |
| 2000 | Galerie Renate Schröder, Cologne |
| 1999 | Kunstverein Springhornhof, Neuenkirchen/Soltau |
| 1998 | Kunsthalle Hamburg |
| 1997 | Kunsthalle Karlsruhe „Forum Rotunde“ |
| 1995 | Kunsthaus Hamburg, Edwin Scharff-Preis |
| 1994 | Griffelkunst, Hamburg: Druckgraphik |
| 1993 | Galerie Sfeir-Semler, Kiel |
| 1991 | Galerie Wentzel, Cologne /1987/1985/1983 |
| 1989 | Kunstverein Lüneburg |
| 1986 | Standpunkte, Kunsthalle Hamburg |
| 1984 | Galerie Elke Dröscher, Hamburg |
| 1979 | Peter Nozer, Zurich |
| 1978 | Galerie Wentzel, Hamburg /1977/1975 |
| 1977 | Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin |
| 1976 | Galerie Tanit, Munich |
| 1973 | Galerie Neuendorf, Cologne |
| 1969 | Galerie Hauptmann, Hamburg |
Group exhibitions
| 2022 | Dip in the Past, Contemporary art from the Lenbachhaus and KiCo foundation, Lenbachhaus Munich |
| 2020 | beyondBLACK, LAProjects Landshut Color painting (with Rupert Eder and Christian F. Kintz), Galerie Nanna Preußners, Hamburg |
| 2019 | SENSE OF WHITE, Galerie Nanna Preußners, Hamburg |
| 2017 | Painting Black, Raum Schroth im Museum Wilhelm Morgner, Soest (cat.) |
| 2016 | Imi Knoebel | Rolf Rose | Henrik Eiben. Farbe und Form, Drawing Room Hamburg |
| 2015 | Accrochage, Sebastian Fath/Contemporary, Mannheim |
| 2014 | Painting Black, The Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery, New York |
| 2013 | Victor, Galerie Evelyn Drewes, Hamburg |
| 2012 | Herbst.zeit.lose, Auktionsausstellung gkg, Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung e. V., Bonn |
| 2011 | Blätterwald oder Die Quintessenz des Buches, Deutscher Künstlerbund Projektraum, Berlin |
| 2010 | Outside the Cartouche, Monochrome works of the Antal-Lusztig-Collection, Modem Modern és Kortárs Müvészeti Központ, Debrecen |
| 2009 | Marilyn in the arts, Städtische Galerie Neues Schloß Meersburg |
| 2008 | Gegenstandslos, 200 KünstlerInnen aus 18 Ländern, gkg, Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung e.V., Bonn |
| 2007 | Weltempfänger, 10 Jahre Galerie der Gegenwart, Hamburg |
| 2006 | Was wäre ich ohne dich …, city gallery prague, Prague |
| 2005 | Arbeiten auf Papier – Ulrich Erben, Ingo Ronkholz, Rolf Rose, Richard Serra, Elke Dröscher – Kunstraum Falkenstein, Hamburg |
| 2004 | Neuerwerbungen Zeitgenössischer Kunst 1995-2004. Malerei und Skulptur seit 1960, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe |
| 2003 | Da Sein, Positionen zeitgenössischer Kunst aus der Sammlung Reinking, Ernst Barlach Museum Wedel, Ernst Barlach Museum Ratzeburg |
| 2002 | Colour – A Life of its Own, an exibition of hungarian and international monochrome painting, Mücsarnok, Budapest |
| 2001 | Über die Ungleichheit des Ähnlichen in der Kunst, Frietzsche, Girke, Kaminsky, Rabinowitsch, Rajlich, Reineking, Rose, Zeniuk, Galerie Lindner, Vienna |
| 2000 | Im Dialog Erben, Girke, Graubner, Rose, Galerie Elke Dröscher, Hamburg |
| 1999 | Die Farbe (Rot) hat mich, Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum, Hagen |
| 1997 | Bildräume, Landeskulturzentrum Salzau, Schleswig-Holstein |
| 1996 | Holländisches Bad, Kunsthaus Hamburg/Brechthaus Berlin |
| 1995 | Erste Wahl, Kunstverein Hamburg |
| 1994 | Prima Idea, Der Deutsche Künstlerbund in Mannheim |
| 1993 | WA(H)RE KUNST, Hamburg 1993, Farbauftrag, Kunsthaus Hamburg |
| 1991 | Zwischen 1980 und 1990, Kunstmuseum Malmö |
| 1985 | Griffelkunst-Vereinigung, Hamburg: Zeitgenössische Druckgraphik, Edition 1975-1985 |
| 1983 | Nocturne, Ruth Siegel Contemporary Art, New York |
| 1982 | Stipendiaten ’81, Kunsthaus Hamburg |
| 1981 | Galerie Wentzel, Cologne |
| 1980 | Schwarz, Künstlerhaus Weidenallee, Hamburg |
| 1978 | Rotterdamse Kunststichting, Rotterdam |
| 1977 | Galerie Art in Progress, Munich |
| 1976 | Galerie Ulysses, Vienna |
| 1975 | Empirica, Museo d’Arte Moderna, Rimini and Verona |
| 1974 | Maler in Hamburg, Kunsthaus Hamburg |
| 1971 | Tendences Actuelles, Goethe-Institut, Marseille |
| 1970 | Galerie Zwirner, Cologne |
