Rainer Fetting

Rainer Fetting (b. 1949, Wilhelmshaven, DE) is a German painter and sculptor. His expressive figurative paintings, portraits and cityscapes, as well as his bronze sculptures cover many different kinds of subject matter. Fetting’s principal means of expression are color and brushwork, in different variations which served as an experimental augmentation of expression. Fetting studied painting with Hans Jaenisch at the Hochschule für Künste in Berlin. In 1977 he was one of the co-founders of the Galerie am Moritzplatz in Berlin, internationally acclaimed as the Junge Wilde or Neue Wilde, before travelling to New York on a fellowship from the DAAD. In New York he focused on his third movie 'Brooklyn 11238' and on exploring local subcultures. In 1981 Fetting participated in the exhibition A New Spirit in Painting at the London Royal Academy, followed by Zeitgeist at the Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin (1982). Within two years the painter gained international recognition with several exhibitions in New York, Zurich and London. In 1983 Fetting decided to move to New York and until 1994 went back and forth between the two cities, in varying intervals. During this period he also turned his attention to bronze sculptures. In 1994 Fetting returned to Berlin where he still lives and works. In 1996 he completed the Willy Brandt monument for Willy-Brandt-Haus in Berlin and continued to create sculptures of prominent personalities such as Henri Nannen (2005) and Helmut Schmidt (2006). His work has been presented in many solo and group exhibitions. Recent solo institutional presentations include Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop, Ostseebad Ahrenshoop, Germany (2014); Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, Germany (2011); and Kunsthalle, Tübingen, Germany (2010). His work is in the public collections of the Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany; Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, France; Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany; and The Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, California among many others.