Poetic yet unnerving, Ruprecht von Kaufmann’s powerfully suggestive scenes take viewers to an eerie world of doubt, vulnerability and profoundly human struggle.
Born in Munich, von Kaufmann moved to the USA in 1995, where he studied at the Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles under F. Scott Hess, before returning to Germany in 2003. Now based in Berlin, von Kaufmann has received various awards including the Else-Heiliger / Konrad-Adenauer Foundation Award in 2007 and a Kunst:Raum Sylt Quelle Foundation grant in 2009. Since 2012, he has worked as Professor of Drawing and Artistic Anatomy at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig.
Artists such as Lucian Freud, Anselm Kiefer and Marc Rothko are cited by von Kaufmann, whose paintings often reference literature or philosophy. His constantly-evolving body of work comprises oils, drawings and installations, blending intense realism with sculptural elements or thick, inviting brushwork, challenging viewers with disquieting portrayals of the human condition. As the artist explains, “I’m very attracted to that combination of beautiful and appalling.”
Von Kaufmann has exhibited widely, participating in group shows across the USA and Germany, and hosting over 25 solo exhibtions since 1998. His paintings are included in permanent collections such as the German Bundestag Art Collection, the Hort Collection New York and the Kunsthalle, Mannheim.
