Rolf Ohst

Background

Rolf Ohst was born in 1952 in Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

Education

During 1974 – 1979 Rolf studied Fine Arts at the Hamburg Vocational College of Cosmetic under the supervision of Professors Rudolf Haussner, Thiemann, and Mavignier.

Career

Rolf Ohst devoted his career fully to painting. The defined power of observation and also the unique focal point take effect on the artist’s paintings, etchings and drawings and open up an insight in the mostly intimate, frequently disturbing world of the illustrated figures.

Rolf Ohst is concentrating entirely on the topic “human.” He presents his protagonists in an exceedingly present way, within the viewer’s grasp in the front plane of the image. Not only the situations but also the bodies themselves – which he applies himself to with a great attention to detail – are sometimes witty, sometimes grotesque and at other times erotic.

In spite of his immediateness and directness, there is always the need for a second view to comprehend the content of the image, to understand a second level of sense and to seize the connote metaphor. With Rolf Ohst, reality obtains surreal streaks yet stays real.

From Botticelli's "Birth of Venus", Giorgione's "Venus in a landscape", Tizian's "Venus" in bourgeois interior via nudes by Rembrandt, Manet, Renoir, Modigliani, Matisse, up to Cézanne or Corinth - Rolf Ohst cites them all. Doing that, he overreaches the baroque plentitude to the extreme. He paints Botticelli's "Venus" in gracefully trembling shy corpulence and placing his figures in maritime landscapes with dramatically clouded skies which let the famous Dutch masterpieces come to life although the figures are kept characteristic of classic modern.

When he names his resting, fat beauty reminiscent of a stranded whale gasping for breath, after Edward Munch's famous "The Scream" the sampling becomes perfect. Rolf Ohst manages to tie in with best traditions of nude-painting in a disrespectful humorous way and to convert them into the presence.

Achievements

• Rolf Ohst is highly famous for his unusual themes, which often appear beamy and extremely present due to their physical abundance and strong gesture, and also for his skill in the technique of realistic painting, that is based on extensive experience over many years.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Amnesia 2

  • Das Gebet

  • Birdy 2

  • Die Welle

  • Peter

  • La Mer

  • Wasser

  • Vater Unser

  • Spiegel

  • Der Verdacht

  • Fuerchte Dich Nicht

  • Birdy 1

  • Earth klein

Views

Rolf Ohst adheres to the artistic traditions of Contemporary Realism and Kitsch. Strange worlds, plagued by metaphors - sometimes disturbing - are part of the work of this renowned artist, who often needs a second vision to understand its meaning.

Connections

tutor:

Rudolf Haussner