Oil on canvas, 2004
120 x 100 centimeters
About Ralph Fleck
Ralph Fleck (b 1951) is a contemporary German artist known for his paintings of cityscapes, books crowds of people and landscapes. He has a very distinct artistic style of thickly painted surfaces rich in color and depth. His work is extremely expressive, realistically painting familiar scenes yet retaining that abstract distance. His work is in numerous museum collections throughout Germany and corporate and private collections worldwide. He lives and work in Freiburg.
In Ascot, Fleck recreates the typical festive crowd at the annual English horserace in full formal attire. We recognize the hats, the outfits and the bright seasonal colors though the faces could belong to anyone. The scene is immediately recognizable for what it is, yet that objective distance is cleverly maintained. This particular body of work was widely acclaimed and these paintings are highly collected.
