Karl Horst Hödicke: Under the Sun’s Favor

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Leo Gallery is honored to present Karl Horst Hödicke’s solo exhibition Under the Sun’s Favor in Hong Kong on 11 September 2025. This event comes five years after his previous show, with the success of his solo exhibition in Hong Kong and duo exhibition at our Shanghai space, both titled Eingedunkelt. The upcoming exhibition will focus on Hödicke’s artwork from the 1980s, exploring the unique lens of luminosity and vitality the artist developed from Berlin’s vibrant and ever-changing urban fabric. In a city laden with post-war memory, Hödicke turned his gaze to resilient plants, sun-drenched beaches, and fragments of daily life, transforming them into a warm visual poetry.

Being recognized as a pivotal figure in post-war German art, Hödicke started his journey by immersing himself in the Berlin art scene, developing his Neo-Expressionist style. He dedicates most of his works to depicting Berlin’s urban environment and exploring themes of social change and individual experience within the city, especially after World War II. In Under the Sun’s Favor, we witness not only the city’s transformation but also a sense of hope growing from the rubble and shining upon all. Sunlight, as the most touching emotional element, becomes a core metaphor for post-war renewal in Hödicke’s Berlin.

Hödicke’s art bridges the gap between abstract and figurative painting. His broad brushstroke technique gives his work a raw, powerful impression, while the carefully chosen palette, often brimming with warm, sun-favored hues, conveys mood and atmosphere. Bright reds, deep blues, and earthy tones often dominate his compositions, emphasizing both the energy of the city and the warmth of life bathed in its glow. These choices help to create a sense of immediacy and intimacy, inviting viewers to see Berlin through his eyes. Hödicke has often described himself as a conservative artist, believing that art should be a way to shape and interpret the world based on personal vision. He emphasizes the importance of figurative work—painting images, be it a cactus or a sunflower, that people can recognize and connect with, all while narrating and transmitting a sense of warmth under the sun’s favor.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Karl Horst Hödicke (1938-2024, Germany) is a contemporary German artist known for his Neo-Expressionist paintings of Berlin, the countryside, and imagined narratives. The artist’s broad brushstrokes and specific color palette provide his works with a sense of seeing a place through memory. Hödicke moved to Berlin at the age of nineteen to pursue his studies at the Hochschule der Künste (now the Universität der Künste), where he later taught as a professor from 1974 until 2006. A co-founder, in 1964, of Großgörschen 35, a revolutionary cooperative gallery in West Berlin, Hödicke has continued to make a profound mark on the Berlin art scene. His prolific body of work includes paintings, sculptures and films. His works have been held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, and the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, among others.