No thanks, I would like to stay on this site.
Yes, I would like to switch.
Werner Pawlok
All works by Werner Pawlok
House of Fefa (hall) - Havana
Elio with friends - Havana
House of Magali - Havana
House of Flora - Havana
Havana Riviera
House of Luisa Faxas - Havana
House of Luisa Faxas (hall) - Havana
Tropicana - Havana
San Lazaro - Havana
Packa I - Havana
House of Savreda
House of Fefa
Casa de la Trova III
Solar Aguiar III
Solar Aguiar IV
House of Eulalia
House of Chino I
House of Chino II
House of Eduardo II
San Miguel y Aguila I
Cremeria La Vina
House of Maria
Nautico
House of Bolade Nieve I
Solar Habana y Amargura II
House of Fefa (stairway) - Havana
Solar Habana y Amargua I
Werner Pawlok - Made in Cuba
House of Luisa Faxas - Havana
Havana Riviera
House of Will II
House of Will III
Bar Napoleon
House of Blues VI
House of Craig III
House of Craig I
Background Information about Werner Pawlok
ABOUT THE WORK
Cuba - Expired
Can one make joie de vivre visible in a room devoid of people? Werner Pawlok can. In Havana’s decaying houses, the photographer captures the Caribbean city’s morbid charm as well as a sense of the Havanans’ vitality.
Former glory and traces of the decline are side by side in Werner Pawlok’s Havana photos. Palatial residences from the old sugar aristocracy seem to entrust him, revealing their weathered countenances. The beauty of the Cuban capital and the history of Havana have bittersweet aftertastes. It is a lost world, left to decay. Pawlok brings the viewer under the spell of the old city, in which former luxury is felt merely as a relic of the past.
Photography Paintings
Werner Pawlok’s giant pictures of young women are transfers of large-format Polaroids onto handmade paper or canvas. To process the positive, the artist uses his talents as a painter. This technique, which so perfectly combines both artistic disciplines, is of Pawlok’s own invention and brought him international renown. The Photography Paintings are from the early 1990s.
Their subtle aura and classical composition quote great works from art history, but through their contemporary colour and styling, the pictures remain contemporary witnesses to the here and now. There are only two cameras in the world capable of producing Polaroids in the 50 x 60 cm format; the film is practically non-existent. However, that did not stop Werner Pawlok from using this unique equipment for his work.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
A self-taught photographer from Stuttgart, Germany, Werner Pawlok first picked up a camera when he was sixteen in order to take pictures of his idol, Jimi Hendrix, onstage in 1969. Since then, he has been looking through a lens into the depths of rooms and souls. Even if the people in front of the camera would prefer otherwise, Pawlok captures their very essence in his one-of-a-kind photographs.
Pawlok’s work enjoys wide recognition around the world, with numerous international awards, solo exhibitions, and group exhibitions with great artists such as Warhol, Richter, Mapplethorpe, and Polke. Pawlok’s career began in 1977, when he opened his first studio in Esslingen, Germany. Sever years later, he moved to Stuttgart. In 1988, he went to New York for a year. In addition to his haunting black and white Polaroid portraits of authors, his signature style is most recognisable in his “Photography Paintings” or in his celebrity and fashion photographs.
TECHNIQUE
Werner Pawlok is self-taught. That does not just mean that he learned all his techniques by himself, but also that he is the kind of artist who will not be stopped because he cannot do something or because something does not appear to be possible. He managed to get ahold of one of two specialised large-format Polaroid cameras in existence. He takes this same approach to his subjects: unafraid and open to all possible outcomes.
In the Polaroid transfers, Pawlok combines painting and photography. He developed a process of transferring the large-format Polaroid negatives onto hand-made paper and then finishing them by painting on them. Pawlok’s style is variety. He meets every new challenge with curiosity and openness.
Cuba - Expired
Can one make joie de vivre visible in a room devoid of people? Werner Pawlok can. In Havana’s decaying houses, the photographer captures the Caribbean city’s morbid charm as well as a sense of the Havanans’ vitality.
Former glory and traces of the decline are side by side in Werner Pawlok’s Havana photos. Palatial residences from the old sugar aristocracy seem to entrust him, revealing their weathered countenances. The beauty of the Cuban capital and the history of Havana have bittersweet aftertastes. It is a lost world, left to decay. Pawlok brings the viewer under the spell of the old city, in which former luxury is felt merely as a relic of the past.
Photography Paintings
Werner Pawlok’s giant pictures of young women are transfers of large-format Polaroids onto handmade paper or canvas. To process the positive, the artist uses his talents as a painter. This technique, which so perfectly combines both artistic disciplines, is of Pawlok’s own invention and brought him international renown. The Photography Paintings are from the early 1990s.
Their subtle aura and classical composition quote great works from art history, but through their contemporary colour and styling, the pictures remain contemporary witnesses to the here and now. There are only two cameras in the world capable of producing Polaroids in the 50 x 60 cm format; the film is practically non-existent. However, that did not stop Werner Pawlok from using this unique equipment for his work.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
A self-taught photographer from Stuttgart, Germany, Werner Pawlok first picked up a camera when he was sixteen in order to take pictures of his idol, Jimi Hendrix, onstage in 1969. Since then, he has been looking through a lens into the depths of rooms and souls. Even if the people in front of the camera would prefer otherwise, Pawlok captures their very essence in his one-of-a-kind photographs.
Pawlok’s work enjoys wide recognition around the world, with numerous international awards, solo exhibitions, and group exhibitions with great artists such as Warhol, Richter, Mapplethorpe, and Polke. Pawlok’s career began in 1977, when he opened his first studio in Esslingen, Germany. Sever years later, he moved to Stuttgart. In 1988, he went to New York for a year. In addition to his haunting black and white Polaroid portraits of authors, his signature style is most recognisable in his “Photography Paintings” or in his celebrity and fashion photographs.
TECHNIQUE
Werner Pawlok is self-taught. That does not just mean that he learned all his techniques by himself, but also that he is the kind of artist who will not be stopped because he cannot do something or because something does not appear to be possible. He managed to get ahold of one of two specialised large-format Polaroid cameras in existence. He takes this same approach to his subjects: unafraid and open to all possible outcomes.
In the Polaroid transfers, Pawlok combines painting and photography. He developed a process of transferring the large-format Polaroid negatives onto hand-made paper and then finishing them by painting on them. Pawlok’s style is variety. He meets every new challenge with curiosity and openness.
| 1953 | Born in Stuttgart, Germany |
| 1977-78 | Lecturer at Academy of Arts, Stuttgart, Berlin |
| 1980 | Founder of the first gallery for photography in south Germany |
| 1988-89 | First Studio in New York, USA |
| Lives and works in Stuttgart, Germany |
Solo Exhibitions
| 2012 | ARTFLOW, Kunsthalle Messmer, Riegel am Kaiserstuhl, Germany |
| 2010 | Moving cities, G3 Gallery, Hamburg, Germany |
| 2009 | Face the time, Galerie Andreas Baumgartl, Munich, Germany |
| 2009 | Werkschau / Retrospektive, Galerie Andreas Baumgartl, Munich, Germany |
| 2008 | Cuba – expired, Gallery Breuer+Kansky, Munich, Germany |
| 2007 | Views - faces of literature, Porsche, Stuttgart, Germany |
| 2005 | Private Views, Bankhaus Ellwanger & Geiger, Stuttgart, Germany |
| 1996 | Transfers, Gallery Raab Boukamel, London, UK |
| 1996 | Transfers, Contemporary Art Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland |
| 1993 | Stars & Paints, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland |
| 1992 | Transfers, Musée de l´Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland |
| 1991 | Photography Paintings, Fotografie Forum International, Frankfurt, Germany |
Group Exhibitions
| 2011 | Episode 1, Caratart Kunstverein, Weil am Rhein, Germany |
| 2011 | Light my fire, Nimbus Group Mock-up, Stuttgart, Germany |
| 2011 | Psychadelic Record Sleeves, Duncan Smith Gallery, Stuttgart, Germany |
| 2010 | Dezemberschau, Galerie AK 1 Stuttgart, Germany |
| 2009 | Australia's Bushfire Exhibition, McCulloch Gallery, Melbourne, Australien |
| 2008 | The big picture I + II, Oliver Gordon Gallery, Toronto, Kanada |
| 2006 | Accrochage, Gallery Andreas Baumgartl, Munich, Germany |
| 2003 | Photography in Advertising, Design Center, Malmö, Schweden |
| 2000 | Images Beyond the naked eye, Museo, Den Haag, Niederlande |
| 1998 | Augenlust with Mapplethorpe, Picasso, Warhol, Cocteau, Kunsthaus Hannover, Germany |
| 1993 | Milk Glas, Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Design, Chicago, USA |
| 1993 | Columbus / Artists United for Nature, Sony Headquater, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1991 | Coulour (with Penn, Mapplethorpe, Wegman), Hamilton´s Gallery, London, UK |
Face the time, Girard-Perregeaux, Katalog zur Ausstellung, 2009
Werner Pawlok Werkschau, Katalog zur Ausstellung, Galerie Andreas Baumgartl, 2009
Photography in Advertising, Katalog zur Ausstellung, FormDesignCenter Malmö, Schweden, 2003
Emerging bodies / Akt in Polaroid, Barbara Hitchcock, 2010
Budapest, Marc Cain Cooperation, Deutschland, 2010
New York, Marc Cain Cooperation, Deutschland, 2010
Leigh Bowery, Violette Editions, London, UK, 1998
Stars & Paints, Publisher Edition Braus, Deutschland, 1997
Master Pieces, Collectors Box, Mercedes-Benz/Edition Domberger, 1993
Master Pieces, Publisher Edition Cantz, 1998
Transfers, Publisher Edition Cantz, 1992
Mois de la Photo á Paris, Jean-Luc Monterosso, 1992
Columbus in search of a new tomorrow, Collectors Box, AUN/Edition Domberger, 1992
Bodies, Publisher Polaroid, USA, 1988
50 Jahre Moderne Farbfotografie, Verlag Photokina/Manfred Heiting, 1986
Selections 3, Verlag Photographie/Polaroid, 1986
Werner Pawlok Werkschau, Katalog zur Ausstellung, Galerie Andreas Baumgartl, 2009
Photography in Advertising, Katalog zur Ausstellung, FormDesignCenter Malmö, Schweden, 2003
Emerging bodies / Akt in Polaroid, Barbara Hitchcock, 2010
Budapest, Marc Cain Cooperation, Deutschland, 2010
New York, Marc Cain Cooperation, Deutschland, 2010
Leigh Bowery, Violette Editions, London, UK, 1998
Stars & Paints, Publisher Edition Braus, Deutschland, 1997
Master Pieces, Collectors Box, Mercedes-Benz/Edition Domberger, 1993
Master Pieces, Publisher Edition Cantz, 1998
Transfers, Publisher Edition Cantz, 1992
Mois de la Photo á Paris, Jean-Luc Monterosso, 1992
Columbus in search of a new tomorrow, Collectors Box, AUN/Edition Domberger, 1992
Bodies, Publisher Polaroid, USA, 1988
50 Jahre Moderne Farbfotografie, Verlag Photokina/Manfred Heiting, 1986
Selections 3, Verlag Photographie/Polaroid, 1986
