Cologe Fine Art Prize

The Cologne Fine Art Prize, which is worth 10,000 euros, is given jointly
by Koelnmesse and the Association of German Galleries (BVDG). As
unique fairs, the two Cologne art fairs have worked together with the
BVDG over the past few decades to develop relevant and closely followed
prizes – the Art Cologne prize for art dealers and Cologne
Fine Art prize for artists.

The 2011 prizewinner Günther Uecker has realised his life’s work crossing
disciplines and pushing the boundaries of fine arts in a major way.
The politically aware artist with an interest in foreign cultures, who
co-founded Group ZERO, has taken part in many documenta exhibitions
and has taught at Düsseldorf Academy of Art (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf)
for almost 20 years. He is an artist who has always gone beyond
the limits of fine art. His installations have links to nature, kinetics and
acoustics, and his stage designs and spiritual rooms of devotion are part
of his thematically and medially multifaceted oeuvre, at whose core is
the object universe of the nail with which he has created a unique
artistic world. Günther Uecker is one of the most outstanding artistic
personalities of our time.

As part of receiving the Cologne Fine Art prize, a special exhibition of
the winning artist’s work is organised in the same year. Previous prizewinners are: 1996 Felix Droese, 1997 Ottmar Hörl, 1998 Dieter Roth, 1999 Thomas Huber, 2000 Thomas Bayrle, 2001 Astrid Klein, 2002 Sigmar Polke, 2003 Jörg Sasse, 2004 Kupferstichkabinett Berlin, 2005 Thomas Schütte, 2006 Dieter Krieg, 2007 Gert und Uwe Tobias, 2008 Katharina Sieverding, 2009 Georg Baselitz, 2010 Andreas Schulze