Dirk Skreber (b. 1961, Lübeck, Germany)
Dirk Skreber currently lives and works in Berlin. He received a degree in fine arts from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany. Skreber works in various mediums including painting, sculpture, and installation. He uses images of natural disasters and accidents involving deconstructed parts of buildings, trains and cars. These paintings and sculptures often depict an accident that appears to have just taken place.
The artist had a solo show at Petzel Gallery in 2018 and has had numerous other solo exhibitions including: Dirimart Gallery, Istanbul (2015); Milwaukee Art Museum, WI (2013); Leopold-Hoesch-Museum & Papiermuseum, Düren, Germany (2012); Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem, Netherlands (2009); Museum Dhont-Dhaenens, Gent, Belgium (2009); National Arts Center, Baden-Baden; Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf, Switzerland (2008); Museum fur Modern Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany (2007); The Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO (2004); Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE and group exhibitions at: Malborough Contemporary, New York (2017) The Saatchi Gallery, London, UK (2011); Trienniale der Kleinplastik Fellbach, Germany (2010); Musee d’Art Contemporain de Nimes, France (2005); Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland (2001), and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2001), among others. In 2000, Dirk Skreber received the “Preis der Freunde der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst” at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. He has works in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Museum fur Modern Kunst, Frankfurt. His work is included in The Saatchi Collection; The Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles); The Collection of the Museum Frieder Burda (Baden-Baden) and many more.
Skreber's work is unsettling, filled with contradictions that tug us in opposing directions: the violence and beauty, the velocity and stillness, the hyper-realism and sketchy abstraction, the mangled objects and a pervasive slickness, the intense action and desolate emptiness.
Mary Louise Schumacher on Dirk Skreber
1961 Born in Lübeck, Germany
1982-88 Studies at the Düsseldorf Art Academy
1987 First solo exhibition in Cologne
1988 Solo exhibition in Düsseldorf and participates in group show at Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf
1994-95 Guest Professor at the Art Academy Karlsruhe
1997 Solo presentation at Leopold-Hoesch-Museum in Düren
2000 Preis der Freunde der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
2002 Solo exhibition at Kunstverein Freiburg
2004 First solo show at Petzel, New York
Presentation titled Na(h)tanz at Aspen Art Museum
2005 Solo exhibition travels from The Aspen Art Museum to Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha
2006 Second solo show at Petzel, New York followed by an exhibition at The Frans Hals Museum in the Netherlands
2008 Presentation at Museum Franz Gertsch in Burgdorf
2009 Third solo show at Petzel, New York
Museum exhibitions at Frans Hals Musueum in Haarlem and Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Belgium
2010 Fourth exhibition at Petzel, New York
2012 First solo exhibition in Tokyo with Nanzuka
Presentation at Leopold-Hoesch-Museum & Papiermuseum Düren, Germany
2013 Institutional exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum
Fifth solo show at Petzel, New York
2014 Participates in exhibition of Titze Collection in Vienna
2015 Group show at Petzel
2016 First exhibition with Capitain Petzel
2017 Group show at Petzel in New York and Tokyo
2018 Sixth solo exhibition at Petzel's location on the Upper East Side