Tilo Baumgärtel

Tilo Baumgärtel is one of the few representatives of what has increasingly become known as the New Leipzig School of Painting. As with so many before him, Baumgärtel's path to becoming an artist has been less than straightforward. He chose first to train as a skilled machine technician, and only later enrolled in the local art academy: Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig. There he studied from 1991 - 2000, under the influence of Arno Rink, amongst others.

Baumgärtel's paintings are often full of colours, yet he is adept at combining these in ways that evoke a kind of dullness. He is then a master at capturing the atmosphere of the former Eastern Block - with, or without, being conscious of it. Up until 1989, the whole of the GDR looked like it could do with a lick of paint. The uneasy feeling of the communist party keeping tabs on everything, and things not being quite as they appeared to be, were powerful conditions for the young Baumgärtel to have to negotiate, and it is unsurprising that these factors remain visible in his art. However, it is worth mentioning that his artistic expression would not have been prohibited under the former regime, rather it would probably have been encouraged every bit as much as it is in the current political climate.