Hanns Schimansky

As a minimal form of expression in drawing, the line is Hanns Schimansky's true language. In the course of his artistic career now spanning more than fifty years, the artist--born in Bitterfeld in 1949--has made its voice heard in the most diverse of variations; he has played through it, extended it powerfully across the paper, or let it flow gently, always wresting fresh meanings from its simplicity. His inexhaustible and yet never repetitive daily engagement with drawing has enabled him to carve out a characterful, distinctive position for himself in contemporary art. The result is a universe of the finest lines and structures, creases and folds, chromatic settings, blotchy-black colour gradients, sometimes hectic or then lyrically calm movements. Hanns Schimansky--professor at the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art from 1998 to 2015--is an explorer, a bold minimalist adventurer in the magical realm of paper. The book presents a selection of drawings and foldings of Hanns Schimansky from 2010 to 2020.