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Wolfe von Lenkiewicz

British artist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wolfe von Lenkiewicz
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Wolfe von Lenkiewicz (Von Wolfe) is a British artist based in London whose work primarily examines themes of identity, intimacy, psychological depth and power dynamics, offering nuanced reflections on universal experience. The artworks often highlight the tension between control and autonomy, illuminating how unseen societal, technological, and psychological forces influence and shape individual agency.

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Ebon, 2024, Oil on canvas

Von Wolfe's process embodies the seamless interplay between the artist's practice as an oil painter and the forefront of technological innovation. Striking a balance between intuitive human discernment and a cutting-edge node-based system using diffusion models. The artist navigates the boundary between digital and tactile realms - through a process of adaptation and reinterpretation, he takes meticulously curated artworks, skilfully rendering them in oil on canvas, ensuring each medium stands in its own right, yet is harmoniously interconnected.

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Early life and education

Wolfe von Lenkiewicz was born in Dartmoor, England, in October 1966 to Celia Norman and the British painter Robert Lenkiewicz.[1] He is of German-Polish-Jewish descent, with his great-grandfather being Baron von Schlossberg, court painter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria.[2] Lenkiewicz was educated at University of York, graduating in 1989 with a degree in Philosophy.[3]

Lenkiewicz studied contemporary epistemology under Marie McGinn, who is now the emeritus professor of philosophy York University. He was also tutored by Roger Woolhouse on John Locke.[citation needed]

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Artistic career

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Von Wolfe in the Studio, 2025

In the East End of London in 2002, Lenkiewicz founded T1+2 Art Space which he directed and curated as an independent artist run project for six years. The inaugural show being in Wheeler Street with Gustav Metzger titled, "100,000 Newspapers", a public active installation. Lenkiewicz also collaborated with Metzger on a conference titled, "World's First Congress of Fork Lift Trucks" at the Truman brewery. Invited were speakers Norman Rosenthal, directors of the Serpentine Gallery and curators including Hans Ulrich Obrist. Other notable shows included the Viennese Actionist Otto Muehl who were invited to exhibit paintings and films as well as contributing to talks. Artists shown at T1+2 read as a list of names from most of the generation that followed the YBAs in the East End.[citation needed]

Lenkiewicz exhibited 33 drawings including 3 large-scale works at his first major exhibition, Nu-Trinity, at Dickinson in 2007.[1][4] Richard Dyer described the exhibition as 'an iconographic investigation into the power inherent in certain images and events, and the mythos associated with them'.[4] Lenkiewicz’s works have since then been exhibited internationally, including Tate Britain and All Visual Arts in London, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, as well as in Dublin, Hamburg, Berlin and Venice.[3]

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Wolfe von Lenkiewicz working on the Raft

Lenkiewicz was represented by All Visual Arts Gallery directed by Joe la Placa. He painted in a 19th century Roman studio for several months and completed a life size reinterpretation of Théodore Géricault's Raft of the Medusa. After having left Italy, the monumental painting was exhibited at the London gallery AVA with the support of Michael Platt of BlueCrest Capital Management.[citation needed]

In 2009, Lenkiewicz's solo exhibition titled The Descent of Man exhibited over 80 works in a former landmark bank building built originally by Arthur Beresford Pite in London. The space was sponsored by IVG Immobilien property group in order to enable the artist to work on a large scale with the relevant real estate and wall space for three years. Lenkiewicz then moved to a large studio in Grosvenor Place, Belgravia from 2016 until 2019, which was sponsored by Hammer Holdings where Lenkiewicz’s The School of Night was painted.[citation needed]

Until 2021, Lenkiewicz's works primarily dealt with the appropriation of language and mythology[5] by juxtaposing elements such as religious figures, pop culture icons, literary characters and motifs.[6] Lenkiewicz's drawings and paintings often reference iconic imageries, including those by Albrecht Dürer, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Hieronymus Bosch. Lenkiewicz transforms Dürer's Self-Portrait (1500) in his Werewolf (2011), referencing Jacques Derrida's The Beast and the Sovereign.[citation needed]

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Reflective Grace, 2023, Oil on canvas

His most recent work from 2022 onwards, primarily examines themes of identity, intimacy, psychological depth and power dynamics, offering nuanced reflections on universal experience. The artworks often highlight the tension between control and autonomy, illuminating how unseen societal, technological, and psychological forces influence and shape individual agency. Von Wolfe's process embodies the seamless interplay between the artist's practice as an oil painter and the forefront of technological innovation.[citation needed]

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Pearls of the Desert, 2024, Oil on canvas
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Exhibitions

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Upcoming 2025 solo exhibitions include The Still Point, Tang Contemporary Art, Seoul and a solo exhibition with MARUANI MERCIER, Brussels. Von Wolfe will also have a museum retrospective at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan, in November 2025.[citation needed]

Museum Exhibitions

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Solo Exhibitions

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Selected Group Exhibitions

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Upcoming exhibitions

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References

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