This chronology briefly conveys the principal events of Kluenter’s life and his 29-years long ijourney to Asia.

 

1956

Born in Buervenich near Cologne, Germany, where the family has been running a farm since several generations.

 

1976

Being accepted at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Duesseldorf, where he first studies painting with Gotthard Graubner and later joins the class “Integration of Fine Arts & Architecture” of Erich Reusch.

 

1980

Receives a travel scholarship from the National Academy of Fine Arts, Duesseldorf.

Decides not to go to New York as it is expected by his teachers, but instead he travels to Nepal, where he pursues a field study on local ritual and vjarayana art.

 

1982

Completes his studies at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Duesseldorf and receives the title „Meisterschueler“.

He returns to Nepal. Katmandu becomes his new home.

Being appointed as a guest lecturer at Tribhuvan University, Campus of Fine Arts.

Paints on small paper formats, exclusively.

 

1983

Studies Sanskrit with Professor Ghimire and classical Tibetan with Dr. Christoph Cueppers in Katmandu. Studies Buddhist texts in Sanskrit and Tibetan language.

Organizes the first “European Art Film Festival” in Katmandu, in cooperation with Goethe Institute and the European Foreign Missions in Nepal.

 

1984

Photo-documents drawings, illustrations, illuminations and miniature paintings of ancient Buddhist manuscripts at the National Archives, the Kesar Library and several private collections in Katmandu.

 

1985

A Nepalese Buddhist priest presents him a stack of old and unused black manuscripts.

He creates his first painting on black paper and paints a "red meander" on the black hand-made manuscript paper, and subsequently, begins to develop his own black hand-made paper.

Meets the Tibetan Buddhist meditation master Sonam Gurme under whose guidance he studies and practice meditation and completes several short retreats.

 

1986

Begins to work on clay and wood.

Creates giant wall installations with painted shaped clays and woods of various dimensions.

 

1987

Further develops his method of paper-making and begins to blacken the pulp with coal dust.

Manufactures the first large and thick handmade paper sheets with the dimensions of 3 x3 meters.

 

1988

Being appointed as full term lecturer at Tribhuvan University, Campus of Fine Arts.

First solo exhibitions of his work in Europe.

Collaborates with Christian Straetling on the first publication of his works, titled “red t & other views”. The “red t & other views” works are exhibited at Christian Straetling’s project room “inexistent” in Antwerp, Belgium

 

1989

Coordinates several “visual communication projects” for development in Nepal, in cooperation with UNICEF, GTZ, UNDP, and Nepal TV. Together with his Nepalese art students, he initiates and establishes the first animation project in Nepal.

 

1990

Establishes his atelier in a side wing of the Hiti Durbar Palace, situated in the center of Katmandu, opposite the Royal Palace of Nepal, which he maintains until the present day.

 

1992

Meets the German film-maker Christian Wagner and organizes with him a film-workshop in Katmandu. Designs the storyboard for the screenplay, titled: “Endless Death”.

 

1993

Travels to Tibet, visits several monasteries in the neighborhood of Lhasa and completes a short meditation retreat in Tsurphu.

 

1994

Resigns as lecturer at TU Campus of Fine Arts, but continues to stay in Nepal as a free-lance artist.

 

1995-96

Several short and medium term Buddhist meditation retreats at monastic retreat centers in the country side of the Katmandu Valley.

 

1997

Creates his first “kaligraphicons” using Indo-Tibetan, as well as Central and South-East Asian calligraphy, as key-elements in his work.

Completes a major assignment, the series of 48 works, titled “the fifth seal”, for the entrepreneur and collector couple Arun and Namita Saraf.

Develops the storyboard and writes the screenplay for an art movie, titled: “total eclipse- the artist, his shadow and a tiger”.

 

1998

Travels to Shanghai for the first time on the invitation of Liu Hai Su Museum.

First complex and giant black paper installation in a solo exhibition, titled “total eclipse I” at the Municipal Gallery of the City of Gladbeck, Germany

 

1999

First solo show in Shanghai at Liu Hai Su Museum. This exhibition, titled “pondering-pulsating” shows his most important works on paper, wood and clay from the years 1988-1999 in Nepal.

He decides to move from Katmandu to Shanghai. Shanghai becomes his new home, but he maintains his Hiti Durbar Atelier in Katmandu where he occasionally works during the year.

Realizes the second complex and giant paper installation in a solo exhibition, titled “total eclipse II” at the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. This exhibition exactly coincides with the actual phenomenon of the solar eclipse by the end of July being observed in Southern Europe.

 

2000

First solo exhibition in New York, at the German House, United Nation Plaza.

Extensive travels in the US and Europe.

Collaborates with American poet and writer Wayne Amtzis on the publication “flatline witness”, which combines Amtzis’s text, his black and white photography and Kluenter’s black paper works.

 

2001

Completes the second assignment, a series of 56 paintings and paper objects, titled “unaccountable objects”, for the entrepreneur and collector couple Arun and Namita Saraf.

Establishes his Shanghai atelier at Taikang Road in Luwan District Shanghai, the former French Concession area of Shanghai.

The solo exhibition “A - worldwide” at Volkswagen-Haus Rhode, Wolfburg/Koenigslutter, Germany shows the main important paintings, paper-objects and installations of Kluenter’s “kaligraphicon” project. The works focus on the letter “AH” in its various graphic forms of different cultures from the east and the west.

 

2002

Introduces stainless steel into his work for the first time with the intention to "join the most ancient of material with the most modern." The black paper and stainless steel installation “soft-core one” is exhibited at the China Millennium Monument Museum in Beijing and subsequently becomes a part of the collection of the Beijing Cultural Foundation.

 

2003

Begins to photo-document urban changes as viewed from his apartment and observed during his daily walk from his apartment to his atelier in Luwan District, Shanghai.

 

2004

His installation “the back room” at Art Scene Warehouse in Shanghai shows his understanding of urban space in the form of a room that evokes different connotations: storage, archiving of information, a place of hidden treasures and secrets, of fantasies and memories. Several maps of Shanghai with superimposed computerized images that are mounted on one of the windows hide the view outside, while at the same time their content serves to tie the microcosm of the back room into the macrocosm of the mega-city.

The solo - exhibition “secret room” at the National Gallery Bangkok introduce the main key-works of his “black paper project” for the first time.

 

2005

Begins painting on canvas in his Shanghai atelier.

Creates small objects incorporating materials from his proximate urban environment, such as white bulbs, wires and a variety of industrial metals.

 

2006

Being invited to Biennale ‘Hyperdesign’ in Shanghai, the Paper Biennale at the Rijkswijk Museum, The Hague, The Netherlands and The Envisage One at Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art.

 

Begins work on the ‘Ke Luo Fu Project’.

 

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