Harald Reiner Gratz
Biography
| 1962 | Born in Schnellbach / Thüringen |  |
| 1981 | Arbitur (school diploma) in Schmalkalden | |
| 1985-88 | Studies at the Hochschule für Kunst und Design (Burg Giebichenstein, Halle) | |
| 1989-91 | Studies in Free Painting and Graphics at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden, under Professors Hubertus Giebe and Werner Liebmann | |
| 1991 | Diploma | |
| 1994 | Scholarship from the Landes Thüringen for Bad Frankenhausen, Prize Winner in the Competition "Ästhetik im Alter" of Stadt Offenbach/Main | |
| 1995 | Scholarship from the Landes Thüringen and the Stiftung Kunstfonds e. V. Berlin: Freiraum 2000 | |
| 1996 | Guest Artist at the Villa Romana, Florenz | |
| 1997 | Nomination from the Landes Thüringen for the final stages of the Villa-Massimo-Prizes, Rom; Catalogue Scholarship of the Ministeriums für Wissenschaft und Kunst des Landes Thüringen, Prize Winner in the Competition "12 Künstler für Weimar 99, Kulturstadt Europas" | |
| since 1997 | In the artist advancement programme of the Deutschen Kreditbank, Berlin; Lives in Schmalkalden | |
| 2000 | Work excursion in his studio in New York |
Solo exhibitions
| 2008 | Penthesilea, Neues Museum Weimar (Katalog) |
| 2008 | Malerei, Galerie Berlin, Berlin |
| 2007 | Penthalon, Schloßmuseum Sondershausen |
| 2006 | "Betrachter und Bewohner", Galerie Rothamel, Erfurt |
| 2006 | Kunsthalle Erfurt |
| 2006 | "Betrachter und Bewohner", Galerie Rothamel, Erfurt |
| 2006 | "Die Kunst der Verführung", Galerie ABTart, Stuttgart |
| 2005 | "In Atlantis", Galerie Berlin, Berlin |
| 2005 | Thüringer Landesmuseum, Rudolstadt |
| 2005 | "Arbeiten auf Papier", Künstlerhaus, Würzburg |
| 2005 | Städtische Sparkassen, Schweinfurt |
| 2004 | "Bilder, Zeichnungen", Galerie Oberländer, Augsburg |
| 2004 | "Zeichnungen", Galerie Jesse, Bielefeld |
| 2004 | "Bilder", SV-Galerie, Kassel |
| 2004 | "Nadelnotate, Radierungen", Galerie im Bürgerhaus, Zella-Mehlis |
| 2003 | "Verwerfungen", Stadtmuseum, Jena |
| 2003 | "Harvest - Ernte", Galerie Steinrötter, Münster |
| 2003 | Strom und Bäche", Galerie im Atrium der SWE, Erfurt |
| 2002 | "Auf dem Weg", Galerie Rothamel, Erfurt |
| 2002 | "Unterwegs", SV-Galerie, Wiesbaden |
| 2002 | "Verwerfungen", Museum Schloss Philippruhe, Hanau |
| 2002 | "Verwerfungen", Museum Junge Kunst, Frankfurt/Oder |
| 2002 | "Halrald R.Gratz, Bilder", Vertretung des Freistaates Thüringen, Berlin |
| 2001 | "New York open", Galerie Rothamel Jena |
| 2001 | "Suite 27th street", Galerie Berlin, Berlin |
| 2001 | "Arbeiten auf Papier", Fachhochschule Schmalkalden, Schmalkalden |
| 2000 | "Home of the Brave" Vonderau Museum, Fulda |
| 2000 | "Home of the Brave", Galerie Rothamel, Erfurt |
| 2000 | "Malerei und Arbeiten auf Papier" Galerie 88, Hanau |
| 1999 | "Arbeiten auf Papier", Galerie 88, Hanau |
| 1999 | "Kreatürliches", Fachhochschule Schmalkalden, Schmalkalden |
| 1998 | "Harald R. Gratz, Bilder", Privatbank Merck/Finck & Co, Berlin |
| 1997 | "Arbeiten auf Papier", Künstlerhaus, Würzburg |
| 1997 | "Strawberry fields", Galerie 96, Luxemburg |
| 1997 | "Malerei und Arbeiten auf Papier", Galerie Rothamel, Erfurt |
| 1997 | "Die Orestie des Friedrich Hölderlin", Panorama Museum, Bad Frankenhausen |
| 1996 | "Funkenflug", Galerie Berlin, Berlin |
| 1996 | "Die große Reise", Blue Point Galerie Meggen, Luzern |
| 1996 | "Symbiose", Commerzbank Erfurt, Erfurt |
| 1996 | "Humus Erectus", Comptoir-Kunstmagazin, Sonneberg |
| 1995 | "Malerei - retrospektiv", Galerie am Fischmarkt, Erfurt |
| 1995 | "Arbeiten auf Papier", Kommunale Galerie Lichtenberg, Berlin |
| 1995 | "Sehnsucht", Museum Schloss Wilhelmsburg, Schmalkalden |
| 1994 | "Malerei und Installation" Thüringer Museum, Eisenach |
| 1994 | "Handstand auf zwei Füßen", Kunsthaus Hebecker, Weimar |
| 1993 | "Kreuz des Südens", Galerie Berlin, Berlin |
| 1993 | "Waynes world", Galerie 88, Hanau |
| 1991 | Diplomausstellung, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden |
Harald Reiner Gratz was born 1962. After completing his army service he studied at the universities in Halle and Dresden. He completed his Diploma in 1991.
In the early nineties Gratz painted freely. Shining blue and green tones conquered the image planes, the free improvisations stepped into spaces of quotation-filled declamation. Fantastic forms soon dominated the newly coloured canvases. In sumptuous excesses, heads, ships, creatures and ambulances rushed noisily through Gratz's image spaces.
This cacophony began to function psychedelically, an effect that fascinated Gratz. He merged the noisy chaos into dream-like worlds, whose deeply coloured abysses trap their viewers. This effect lurked in vibrant landscapes like "Giardino I" (1996) or in glimmering scenes like the "Tankstelle" ("Petrol Station") (1997).
In the years between 1997 and 2000 the cycle "Home of Brave" was created, consisting of dozens paintings and hundreds of drawings. The motifs of the series functioned like a background noise, onto which the paintings spread: chains of surreal mountain lands, creatures, fruits, layerings, piles, imaginary scenery. "Lebensstufen der Hasen" ("Life Stages of the Hares"), developed in 1998, transports C.D. Friedrich's life metaphor into Gratzen's artistic world.
A residency in New York stay in the year 2000 left painted notes, small dramas and mysterious short stories, which are between design and painting. The film script stepped into the place of the painting composition. The design became the sketch, the film take for the moving picture. Gratz sketched surreal short stories, small dramas, short descriptions, that play between design, painting and film, at once free and literary.
Few artists have as an extensive a repertoire as Harald Gratz. His "Andalusische Serie" / "Andalusian Series" (2002, oil and mischtechnik on paper) references with admirable ease Picasso's graphic qualities. In so far as virtuosity and fancifulness are concerned Gratz also sets yardsticks. He rarely pursues topics of the day and short-lived discourses, rather affords himself his own measure of time. Harald Reiner Gratz works in a small location in the Thüringer forest. Many of his works are represented in important European collections.