Ben Willikens was born in Leipzig in 1939. After initially learning literature and philosophy in Hamburg, he moved to the Stuttgart Academy of Nice Arts in 1962, the place he attended the portray class of Heinz Trökes. In 1969, an sickness pressured him to remain in hospital for nearly a yr. After intervals of scholarship on the Villa Romana in Florence and the Villa Massimo in Rome, Willikens processed this occasion in a collection of deserted acrylic work – the so-called “institute work” – through which he depicts beds, lockers , cell doorways, hallways and so forth in an nameless blond language Illustrated motifs harking back to the establishments and hospitals of the time.
From the Seventies onwards, Ben Willikens developed a portray fashion of goal sobriety, which works nearly with out colors. “Grey on gray” was his trademark for a few years. Throughout this time he created the primary model of his well-known Final Supper, a 3 by six meter triptych which was proven for the primary time within the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart in 1980 and which was the topic of controversy on the time. The examination of house was the theme of his work within the coming years.
In 1977 de Willikens turned professor of graphics and portray on the Pforzheim College of Design, in 1982 he moved to the College of Nice Arts in Braunschweig, and in 1991 he was appointed to the Academy of Nice Arts in Munich, the place he was a professor between 1999 and 2004 Rector in cost.
Ben Willikens has acquired quite a few artwork awards for his art work. Amongst different issues, he acquired the Villa Romana Prize in Florence in 1970 and the Villa Massimo Prize in 1972. In 1983 he was the primary winner of the Hans Molfenter Prize within the Metropolis of Stuttgart and in 2004 he was awarded the Artwork Prize of the Helmut Kraft Basis Stuttgart. He additionally acquired numerous state awards such because the Federal Cross of Advantage in 2001, the Bavarian Order of Advantage in 2006 and the Federal Cross of Advantage Class in 2017.
His work can now be present in collections and museums all over the world. The highlights of his art work, akin to early works with automotive paint spray from the collection “Anstaltsbilder” and all the collection “ORTE”, are a part of the gathering of the municipal artwork museum, and the State Gallery additionally has many vital works. Because the Eighties, Willikens has realized quite a few site-specific works within the higher Stuttgart space, akin to “College of Athens I and II” within the Haus der Wirtschaft, a large-format mural within the lobby of the Hegel Corridor within the Liederhalle. , and the collection “5 Rooms, 5” in New Palace Many years”.
In 1988, Ben Willikens performed a key function within the preservation of the army hospital in japanese Stuttgart, constructed within the Neo-Renaissance fashion, which co-founded and formed the status of the Kulturpark-Berg space. Along with his studio within the Berg Kulturpark, the potential resident of Stuttgart has a second place of residence and work in Wallhausen (Hohenlohe). Lately, the Albertina in Vienna and the Schauwerk Sindelfingen have devoted critically acclaimed retrospective exhibitions.