Norbert Bisky

As the son of the late Left Party politician Lothar Bisky, Norbert Bisky experienced the political ambience of the GDR at first hand through his father’s involvement. Political and socially critical themes were often subliminally reflected in his work. His early works were mostly done in bright, almost overexposed colours, of youthful straw-blond boys in playful interaction. Norbert Bisky countered this apparent glorification of socialism by giving the works contradictory titles, such as “Friend Enemy”. He first studied German and art history at the Humboldt University in Berlin before moving to the University of the Arts in Berlin to study painting in Georg Baselitz’s class. He completed his master’s studies with him in 1999 and took part in the Salzburg Summer Academy in the class of Jim Dine on an interim basis in 1994 and 1995. In 2000 he received a scholarship from the Foundation Künstlerdorf Schöppingen in North Rhine-Westphalia. From 2008 to 2010 he held a visiting professorship at the Haute École d’Art et de Design in Geneva. In 2013 he designed the stage set for the piece “Masse” for the Staatsballett Berlin. In 2014, the Kunsthalle Rostock staged the largest complete exhibition of his work. Bisky is represented in numerous international collections, such as the Museum Ludwig, the Moma in New York, and the Deutsche Bank Art Collection in Frankfurt, and currently lives and works in Berlin.