Enrique Brinkmann

ENRIQUE BRINKMANN (Málaga, 1938).
"Dragon eye", 1963.
Mixed media on paper.
Framed with museum glass.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 49 x 64 cm; 59 x 75 cm (frame).
The artistic imaginary of Enrique Brinkmann can be structured around six stages of production. The fourth stage, to which the work presented here would belong, takes place between 1977 and 1991, but due to its complexity and evolutionary dynamism it would be subdivided into two periods: The first, without implying an abandonment of figuration, opens to a greater parceling of the form, to a greater concern for the spatial construction of the figure and the painting in general, characterized by empty areas crossed from time to time by some line; the second is characterized by the definitive decomposition of the figure and the unstoppable advance of abstraction, with numerous scratches on the canvas.
A self-taught painter and engraver, Brinkmann began painting in the fifties and soon became a member of the Picasso Group in Malaga, collaborating in the Mediterranean Artistic Movement. In 1961 he traveled to Germany, where he spent three years living in the cities of Berlin and Cologne, while maintaining contact with the "Fluxus" group, illustrating musical scores for Cornelius Cardew. Later he settled in Rome to return in 1966 to Malaga and settle in his hometown, although since 1992 he works and resides for long periods in Madrid. He continues with an intense and extensive work, with involvement in workshops and other activities related to the plastic arts. Throughout his prolific career, Enrique Brinkmann has gone through six formative stages, always respecting the essence that characterizes him. Brinkmann has held exhibitions in Spain, the United States, Italy, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland, and has won awards such as the drawing prize at the Autumn Salon of the Haus der Kunst in Munich, the International Painting Festival Cagnes-sur-Mer in France and the National Engraving Prize in Madrid, among others. He is currently represented at the MOMA in New York, the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Albertina in Vienna, the Wallraf-Richartz in Cologne, the Museum of Abstract Art in Cuenca and the Juan March Foundation, among many other public and private institutions.