About Gero Paul

Gero Paul is one of the pioneers of digital art. In the late 1980s, without role models or formal training, he began creating his first computer graphics – at a time when there were no degree programs for digital design. A self-taught… Read more

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Work Info

Gero Paul condenses photography, painting, and digital collage into visual worlds of striking density. Thousands of layers intertwine to form scenes that oscillate between social satire, dystopian visions, and fantastical landscapes.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Gero Paul is one of the pioneers of digital art. In the late 1980s, without role models or formal training, he began creating his first computer graphics – at a time when there were no degree programs for digital design. A self-taught artist, he explored these new possibilities with the support of like-minded friends, driven by curiosity and a spirit of experimentation. Even then, he was fascinated by the freedom of creating with digital tools what traditional painting could not achieve: boundless expressive possibilities, precise detail, and infinite complexity. From this early spirit of exploration, he developed a body of work that has significantly shaped digital painting.

His art thrives on contrasts: realism meets surrealism, satire meets fantasy, social critique meets poetic imagination. Some works are incisive commentaries on current events, others envision dystopian worlds or intricate landscapes in which the viewer can lose themselves. What unites them all is their narrative force: Gero Paul creates images that spark stories and draw the viewer into a visual narrative. “My images are meant to make things understandable that are difficult to put into words,” he says.
Photography is often the starting point of his work – an empty room, an architectural structure, a detail from nature. Yet it never remains mere depiction; through the digital process, it becomes something entirely new. Paul combines photographs with drawings, paintings, and digital collages, layering hundreds or even thousands of elements until a dense pictorial universe emerges. With a graphics tablet and cutting-edge digital techniques, he achieves a precision unattainable even with the finest brushes. At the same time, the brilliance of digital colors lends his works a luminosity that gives each motif an almost magical presence.

The materiality of his works is equally remarkable. Paul works on canvas, silk, aluminum dibond, fine art paper, or acrylic glass – each medium amplifying a different facet of his art. Using a self-developed printing technique that employs a laminated protective layer, his works are not only refined but also weatherproof, enabling them to unfold their impact in a variety of settings. His illuminated works hold a special place: equipped with high-end LEDs, they change their effect depending on light and viewing angle – a fusion of painting, photography, and installation. The result is more than digital compositions: they are visual cosmoses where reality and fiction merge seamlessly.

What distinguishes Gero Paul’s art is its multiplicity: precise yet playful, digital yet narrative, critical yet poetic. His works expand not only the physical space they inhabit but also the perspective of those who encounter them. They demonstrate that digital painting can be more than mere technique – it is a medium that makes the invisible visible and transforms imagination into reality.

VITA

Gero Paul (*1962) studied graphic design in Hamburg and is regarded as a pioneer of digital art. Since the late 1980s, he has worked as a self-taught artist at the intersection of photography, drawing, and digital painting. After positions as a graphic designer and web designer, he has devoted himself entirely to art for many years. In the past six years alone, he has created around 300 works; his works can be found in public buildings, galleries, and his own exhibition spaces in Hamburg. His exhibitions have also taken him to Basel, Zurich, Paris, Amsterdam, and numerous German cities.

Exhibitions

2026 (in progress) ArtOranje Kunstbeurs Groningen
2025 Fine Arts, Lagerhaus G, Hamburg
2024 Europ Art Fair, Amsterdam
2024 Marziart Internationale Galerie, Paris
2024 RHY ART SALON Basel BB International Fine Arts
2023 Galerie Wild, Zürich
2022 Art Basel, RHY ART SALON BB International Fine Arts
2022 Artstadt Galerie Krieger
2021 Art Zürich International im Puls 5
2020 Hamburger Kunstgalerie Gänsemarkt
2019 Kulturforum im Hafen Buxtehude
2019 Hamburger Kunstgalerie Gänsemarkt
2019 Street Art Valencia Spain
2018 Marziart Internationale Galerie Eppendorf
2017 Kulturforum im Hafen Buxtehude
2017 Altonale Hamburg