born March 8, 1945, Donaueschingen, Ger.
German painter.
In 1970 he studied under the conceptual artist Joseph Beuys . In such huge paintings as Germany's Spiritual Heroes (1973) he used visual symbols, somber colours, and naive drawing to comment with irony and sarcasm on Germany's tragic past. In the 1980s his colossal paintings acquired an intense physical presence by means of perspectival devices and unusual textures. He is one of the most prominent figures in late 20th-century Neo-Expressionism .