Ralf Altrieth (1966) - Der Möchtegern

Ralf Altrieth (Heilbronn, 1966).

Mixed media on canvas, 'Der Möchtegern', 2017

46 x 38 cm, ready to hang

SOLD by: Recodier Art - agent, France

DOCUMENTATION :

A dated and signed certificate of authenticity is included.

DESCRIPTION :

Signed on the back 'Ralf Altrieth' with a black marker on the frame.
Engraved 'RA17' on the front in the paint.

This painting presents a compact, almost square figure, whose face emerges from a dense pictorial substance. The surface is rhythmically punctuated by a constellation of small yellow touches, laid as scales or a vibrating skin, which partially cover the central form. Two white eyes, slightly asymmetrical, pierce this texture and immediately establish direct contact with the viewer.

The dominant tones — muted greens, earthy browns, and softened yellows — give the whole an organic, almost telluric presence. A darker, oblique form crosses the face, suggesting at once a snout, a mask, or movement, while black lines outline a jagged mouth, on the edge between a smile and a grimace. The light background, deliberately allowed to breathe, contrasts with the figure’s density and emphasizes its isolation.

In the lower part, a network of blue lines, drawn in a freehand manner, introduces a graphic vibration that anchors the figure without freezing it. The work oscillates between figuration and abstraction, between softness and strangeness. Through its intimate format and its direct pictorial language, it offers a singular presence, at once playful, slightly unsettling, and deeply expressive.

RALF ALTRIETH (born 1966 in Heilbronn, Germany) is a German painter and musician who has been based in France since 2006. For more than thirty years he has expressed himself through a plural artistic practice, which includes painting, drawing, linocut printmaking, installations, sculpture, and photography, as well as contemporary music and jazz.

Very early drawn to the visual arts, he takes private lessons with painter Georg Schaible at the age of 14, before joining the Nürtingen Academy of Fine Arts from 1987 to 1989. In parallel, he discovers and practices the saxophone and jazz from the age of 20.

The career of Ralf Altrieth is defined by total artistic freedom: from his early days he has claimed an autonomy of creation that is expressed through a wide diversity of media and artistic languages.

He has lived and worked in several European cities — including Berlin, Freiburg, Erlangen, Paris and Venice — before settling permanently in the south of France, where he develops his practice.

Ralf Altrieth has exhibited in numerous galleries and cultural venues in France and abroad, including the Hartmut Beck Gallery in Erlangen, MAC Paris, the Galerie Théo de Seine in Paris, Galerie N5 in Montpellier, the Château d’Assas, and other art spaces. His works are in private collections in Europe and beyond.

In addition to his visual practice, he is the co-founder of the music label Meta Records and has collaborated with many musicians, often incorporating music as a source of inspiration into his visual work.

His work is frequently described as living at the intersection of gestural expressionism, neo-expressionism, and lyrical abstraction, where line and color function as a form of writing that explores movement, spontaneity, and intuitive narration.