Vita

Michael Knepper
Studies: design, art and illustration in Trier, bachelor of arts
Work experience: advertising agency in Munich
Since 1982 freelancer and artist
Major customers: Siemens, Mercedes, Adidas, Bayer, Provinzial, Spatenbräu, Mustang Jeans, Jever, Samson, König-Ludwig-Musical, publishing houses (Gruner + Jahr, Burda-Verlag, Spiegel-Verlag, Warner Brothers)

My work
I can't see a clear ‘border' between art and illustration, as the interpretation of the painting counts. Working as an illustrator I have to ‘produce' paintings that refer to ‘fixed' demands. But as an artist I am able to work more creative, more spontaneous and can deploy my artistic freedom. But it's irrelevant if someone calls me artist or illustrator- just my ‘product' counts.
Some of my idols are Caravaggio, J.D.David and contempary artists like Frank Frazetta, Gottfried Helnwein and Renato Casaro.

The inspiration for my current work was driven by ‘real life'. The biker scene is full of dudes, babes and bikes. I just had to paint them on canvas. So I came up with the idea for an international calendar project ‘out of hell' showing various bikebuilders including interpretations of the subject ‘devil'. The calendar was sold successfully in 2009.
I decided to continue with the motorcycle art. As the famous photographer Michael Lichter invited me to an exhibition in Sturgis, I met the well known art dealer Ron Segal who is representing me since then. As the ‘spirit of Sturgis' took hold of me, I painted the art work SOS (spirit of Sturgis) which turned out to be a ‘hit' in the US, and because Daytona is important for the bike scene as well I also painted a Daytona art work.
Presently I am painting SOS II , a tribute to the Sturgis event turning 70 in 2010.

Over the past years I went to several exhibitions in Europe. This year I will be in Hamburg, Harley days, in Lübeck, in Leipzig and in Bad Salzuflen.

As far as the material for my paintings are concerned, I prefer acrylic and gouache colours, dozens of pencils and canvas. I stay with the ‘traditional painting' and the computer is only used to produce high-quality prints on canvas, which can be ordered in various sizes

Contact

Adress: Beerentaltrift 111
21077 Hamburg
Phone: +49 40-7922028/ +49 151 18348222
e-mail: michaelknepper@gmx.net
Homepage:www.michaelknepper.de