Karl Otto Götz
| Karl Otto Götz | |
|---|---|
| Born |
22 February 1914 Aachen, Germany |
| Occupation | Artist |
Karl Otto Götz (born 22 February 1914), often simply called K.O. Götz, is a German artist, film maker, draughtsman, printmaker, writer and professor of art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. He is one of the oldest living and active artists who are older than 100 years of age and is known for his explosive and complex abstract forms. His powerful, surrealist-inspired works have earned him international recognition in exhibitions like documenta II in 1959. Götz has never confined himself to one specific style or artistic field. He also explored generated abstract forms through television art. Götz is one of the most important members of the German Art Informel movement. His works and teachings influenced future artists such as Sigmar Polke, Nam June Paik and Gerhard Richter. Currently, he is living and working in Wolfenacker in the Westerwald since 1975.
Born in Aachen, Germany, Götz began painting in secondary school in 1924. In 1930 he began painting abstracts. He attended the School of Applied Arts from 1932 to 1933. His early paintings were characterized by the modernist/avante-garde movements, surrealism and expressionism. Gӧtz was specifically influenced by artists such as Max Ernst, Juan Gris, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. After the takeover of Germany by the Nazi Party, painting became difficult for Gӧtz. He was banned from painting and exhibiting due to the national disapproval of abstract and surrealist art. However, he was able to make a living by creating and selling landscape paintings. Götz was drafted into the Wehrmacht Air Force when he was twenty-five, shortly before the beginning of World War II. During his military service from 1936 to 1938, Götz was able to continue to experiment with various media such as spray paint, photograms (created without the use of a camera by placing objects on photographic paper exposed then exposing it to light), and abstract cine-films. He moved to Wurzen, Saxony and concentrated on abstract painting, combining geometric and organic elements. In 1945, Gӧtz married Anneli Brauckmeyer. Their marriage ended in 1965 and Götz remarried, to German artist Rissa, also known as Karin Martin.
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