1933 Cologne – 2019 Cologne

Paeffgen finished his law studies in Cologne and Berlin in 1959 with the first state law exam. Ten years later, in 1970, he begins to paint. He started to fuse found objects with wire – a technique he pursues right up to his death. These “wraps,” which he often continues to work on, are contrasted by his “borders.” They refer to contiguous contours of newspaper images that are projected onto canvas and reworked. In the eighties Paeffgen achieved a high profile with this work. Paeffgen had numerous museum, art gallery and gallery exhibitions. In the spring of 1999, the Museum Ludwig dedicated a retrospective to him in Cologne; in 2013, the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck presented a solo exhibition.