Anselm Kiefer

To the Unknown Painter (1983)

Anselm Kiefer was born March 8, 1945. He is a german sculpter and painter who incorporates, straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. His works are characterised by a dull/musty, nearly depressive, destructive style and are often done in large scale formats. In most of his works, the use of photography is prevalent and earth and other raw materials of nature are often incorporated. It is also characteristic of his work to find signatures and/or names of people of historical importance, legendary figures or places particularly important to history. All of these are encoded sigils through which Kiefer seeks to process the past; this has resulted in his work being linked with a style called "New Symbolism."

Naglfar (1998)