*1946 in Krefeld – lives in Berlin

Since his studies with professors Gerhart Bergmann and Karl Horst Hödicke in the 70ies Gerd Rohling is equally devoted to object art and painting.

Rohlings works are mainly characterized by three aspects: the pursuit of the autonomous object, the change of meaning and the play with language. Exemplary his installation Wasser und Wein (Water and Wine) shown at the 2001 Venice biennal, curated by Harald Szeemann, and at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin in 2003 – with surprising transformations from plastic waste to antique glass vessels. With the group of sculptures for which he collected old plastic bottles and containers at beaches and garbage dumps for two decades he doesn’t only ask the for modern art significant question about art objects per se but points to a highly charged reality in times of changing eco systems at the same moment. They never deny their trivial character but expose their past. This way Rohlings passion for collecting becomes the method of memorization and in his series of converted electric stove flaps is called Momenti Colorati. In the inebriation of the senses the picture-objects allow a gaze, a glimpse of memories of excessive moments.

Gerd Rohling still lives and works in Berlin. His works were exhibited, mostly combined with work stays, at several biennals and in museums in Italy, Africa, India, Brazil, the USA and Germany.