Wolfe von Lenkiewicz is a British artist known for his artistic reconfigurations of well-known imageries from art history and visual culture to create ambiguous compositions that question art historical discourses.'Wolfe von Lenkiewicz', AnOther Magazine, 26 April 2011 He lives and works in London.'Wolfe von Lenkiewicz', Other Criteria

Early life and education Wolfe von Lenkiewicz was born in Dartmoor, England, in October 1966 to Celia Norman and the British painter Robert Lenkiewicz.'Market news: Warhol's Conrad Black legacy', Colin Gleadell, The Telegraph, 23 October 2007 He is of German-Polish-Jewish descent, with his great-grandfather being Baron von Schlossberg, court painter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria.Art Review blog, 17 February 2010 Lenkiewicz was educated at University of York, graduating in 1989 with a degree in Philosophy.

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.

Artistic career

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.

Lenkiewicz exhibited 33 drawings including 3 large-scale works at his first major exhibition, Nu-Trinity, at Dickinson in 2007."Wolfe Lenkiewicz: Nu-Trinity", Richard Dyer, Art Review, January 2008 Richard Dyer described the exhibition as 'an iconographic investigation into the power inherent in certain images and events, and the mythos associated with them'. 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.

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.

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.

Until 2021, Lenkiewicz's works primarily dealt with the appropriation of language and mythology'Wolfe von Lenkiewicz', James Read, Don't Panic Online, 18 May 2011 by juxtaposing elements such as religious figures, pop culture icons, literary characters and motifs.'Wolfe von Lenkiewicz / Age of the Marvellous', Dazed Digital, September 2010 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.

Exhibitions

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.

Museum Exhibitions Year Exhibition 2025 The Garden Fortress, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan 2018 Processions of Orpheus, Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, Moscow 2020 "Inspiration: Contemporary and the Classics", Ateneum Museum, Helsinki 2020 Inspiration: Iconic Works, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm 2018 Processions of Orpheus, Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, Moscow 2017 Doing Identity, Kunst Museum, Bochum 2017 Proof of Life, Weserburg Museum, Bremen 2016 Persona, Musée Quai Branly, Paris 2012 Babel, Beaux Arts de Lille, Lille 2006 New Gothic, Tate Britain, London

Solo Exhibitions Year Exhibition 2025 The Still Point, Tang Contemporary Art, Seoul 2024 Oracle, Richard Heller Gallery, LA 2023 "Odyssey", 212 Festival, Istanbul 2018 The School of Night, Saatchi Gallery, London 2018 Processions of Orpheus, Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre, Moscow 2016 L'Oeuvre, House of the Nobleman, London 2016 Meta-History, Riflemaker Gallery, London 2015 Wolfe von Lenkiewicz: A Retrospective, Galerie Michael Haas/Mark Sanders Art Consultancy, Berlin 2015 Delirious Picasso, House of the Nobleman/Mark Sanders Art Consultancy, Academy Mansion, New York 2014 Algebra: The Reunion of Broken Parts, House of the Nobleman/Mark Sanders Art Consultancy, London 2014 Wolfe von Lenkiewicz: Paintings and Drawings, Galerie MIRO, Prague 2014 Snow White and the Knights of Schwangau, Riflemaker Gallery, London 2013 The Raft of the Medusa, All Visual Arts, London 2012 Hieronymus Bosch, All Visual Arts, London 2011 The Beast and the Sovereign, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin 2011 Liberation: Their Story Begins, Sebastian Guinness Gallery, Ireland 2011 I Have an Excellent Idea...Let's Change the Subject, All Visual Arts, London 2010 Victory Over the Sum, Triumph Gallery, Moscow 2009 The Descent of Man, All Visual Arts, London 2008 Nu-Trinity, Simon Dickinson, London 2007 Mutagenesis, Mimmo Scognamiglio Contemporary Art, Naples 2007 Mutagenesis, Paradise Row, London 2007 Emblematic Psychosis, Ingalls & Associates, Miami 2001 The Park, T1+2 Artspace, London 2000 Hangman, T1+2 Artspace, London

Selected Group Exhibitions Year Exhibition 2024 Seeing Red, Phillips Berkeley Square, London 2023 AND QUIETLY THE NIGHT ARRIVES..., Steinhauser Gallery, ZOYA Museum, Modra 2023 FEMME F(R)ICTION, C1760, Academy Mansion, New York 2022 Once Upon a Time..., Flora Fairbairn and Co, Chiltern St London, UK 2020 Inspiration: Contemporary and the Classics, Ateneum Museum, Helsinki 2020 Cranach: Artist and Innovator, Compton Verney Art Gallery, Warwickshire, UK 2020 Inspiration: Iconic Works, National Museum, Stockholm 2019 Dangerous Beauty, Colnaghi Gallery, London 2019 Hommage a Leonard et a la Renaissance, Chateau du Rivau, France 2018 TEFAF Maastricht, Beck and Eggeling, Maastricht 2018 Strange Beauty, Beck and Eggeling, Dusseldorf 2018 Painting Still Alive, Galerie Michael Haas/Center for Contemporary Art, Turin 2017 Doing Identity: The Reydan Weiss Collection, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum 2017 Munich Highlights, Beck and Eggeling, Munich 2017 I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper, Griffin Gallery, London 2016 Forever, Bubox, Kortrijk, Belgium 2016 Persona, Musee Quai Branly, Paris 2015 Picasso in Contemporary Art, Wexner Centre for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio 2015 Picasso in Contemporary Art, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg 2015 The Remarkable Lightness of Being, Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brussels 2014 Art Basel, Galerie Michael Haas, Basel 2013 Wonderful: Humboldt, Krokodil & Polke, Me Collectors Room, Berlin 2013 Viewing Room, All Visual Arts, London 2013 Between the Lines: A Group Drawing Show, All Visual Arts, London 2012 Memories of the Future, La Maison Rouge, Paris 2012 Metamorphosis, All Visual Arts, London 2012 Babel, Beaux Arts de Lille, Lille 2012 Everywhere and Nowhere, Villa Jauss, Obersdorf 2011 The House of the Nobleman, London 2011 Zwei Sammler, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg 2010 Vanitas: The Transience of Earthly Pleasures, All Visual Arts, London 2010 The House of the Nobleman, London 2009 The Age of the Marvellous, All Visual Arts, London 2009 The Embassy, 20 Hoxton Square Projects, London 2007 Avatar of Sacred Discontent, T1+2 Gallery, London 2007 Avatar of Sacred Discontent, Port Eliot LitFest, St Germans 2006 New Gothic, Tate Britain, London 2006 End of Civilisation, Port Eliot Castle, St Germans 2006 Great Eastern Hotel, Kristy Stubbs Gallery, London 2005 Go Between, Magazine 4, Kunstverein, Bregenz 2003 World's First Congress of Fork Lift Trucks, Atlantis Gallery, London 2003 100,000 Newspapers: Gustav Metzger, Stewart Home, Wolfe von Lenkiewicz, T1+2 Artspace, London 2001 The Constant of Variation, T1+2 Artspace, London

Upcoming exhibitions Year Exhibition 2025 Von Wolfe: The Space In Between, MARUANI MERCIER, Brussels 2025 The Garden Fortress, The Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan

References

External links Wolfe von Lenkiewicz