Artists >> Kalwitz, Rainer

Rainer Kalwitz
A Portrait of the Artist
After graduating from high school, Rainer Kalwitz (born December 27th 1970) worked for three years as an illustrator for the FORD-Company in Cologne. While being there he perfected the technique of precise drawing, which is important for technical presentations and is still visible in his works. Rainer studied graphic arts at the University of Düsseldorf and received awards from the University of Münster. In 1993 he made his first cover-illustration for a German Progressive-Rock-Band (LORIAN, "Virginal mind", distributed by Edel), which after the release of the CD aroused great interest with other labels. The consequence of this were important orders by bands from all over the world.

Besides a detailed brushwork, Rainer Kalwitz basically uses the technique of airbrush, but he is not to be regarded as an "air brusher", as his works are very different from the motifs of this area, which are often quite stereotyped. On the contrary, intense pre-studies underlie the final version of a picture, often in form of a series of photos or sketches. Thus the result has to be regarded as the end of a long technical and creative process.

Important influences for the art of Rainer Kalwitz are among others the works of Michael Whelan, Rodney Matthews, space artist Paul Hudson or also Caspar David Friedrich.

Though it is unnecessary to categorize his works, the keywords in connection with his art must be "phantastic realism", concerning the style and the composition of his subjects. But in spite of all realistic appearance his pictures have nevertheless a clear component in painting, which is far away from mimetic ambitions of photorealistic artists.

Rainer Kalwitz lives and works in Recklinghausen (Germany). Nowadays he is one of the most established artists as far as CD-cover design is concerned. His work was already featured in SPECTRUM, The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art and somehow the "Who is Who" for this genre.

Since January 2001 Rainer is exclusively represented in Europe by the well-known agency "Thomas Schlueck GmbH" who also represent the famous fantasy artists Boris Vallejo and Michael Whelan (www.schlueckagent.com).

Besides his illustrators work Rainer was also teaching illustration and freehand drawing at the Institute of Fine Arts in Bochum/Germany from 2002 – 2003. At the moment he is busy as a university lecturer in Recklinghausen, Gelsenkirchen and Essen and also at the Creativcentre in Dortmund (all Germany).

It can be assumed that he will gain more fame within the next years.