Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1963 Gunzburg, Germany

Year of Migration to the UK: 1996

Biography

Artist and educator, Lothar Götz was born in Günzburg, Germany in 1963. From 1983 to 1988, he attended the Fachhochschule Aachen, earning a BA in Visual Communication. As a post-graduate, between 1991 and 1995, he pursued an MA in Aesthetics at Universität Wuppertal. Continuing at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1993 to 1995, in 1996 he immigrated to London to enrol in the Royal College of Art, where he completed a Master’s degree in Painting in 1998.

Götz’s art practice focuses on drawings on paper, large-scale paintings on canvas, room-sized wall paintings, and site-specific installations or geometric murals integrated into existing architectural settings, with a particular focus on transforming entire building façades, foyers, reading rooms, offices, or staircases. His style is characterised by precise forms, geometric abstraction, bold use of colour, and a deep connection to each site’s physical attributes and its social function. These attributes, unique to each location, inform his colour-coding system. His practice generates vibrant, polychromatic patterns guided by artistic freedom rather than strict rules or algorithms. Götz draws inspiration from Bauhaus colour theories, Minimalism, personal recollections of modernist 1970s bungalows from his upbringing in Southern Germany, as well as Renaissance paintings and childhood memories of Baroque churches. Influences from abstract artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Ben Nicholson are also evident. Götz’s art bridges the realms of visual expression and architecture, unveiling hidden structural elements and reshaping the viewers’ perceptions of space. From museums and galleries to underground stations and medical facilities, Götz's work operates within the relationship between colour and spatial understanding.

Götz is primarily known for his site-specific installation projects, spanning various locations and exhibitions. In 2002, his commission Forever Young at London's Chisenhale Gallery showcased a wall-based painting that integrated boldly coloured forms with the gallery’s industrial architecture and blurred the lines separating architecture, decoration, design, painting, and sculpture. Götz unveiled Connection for The London Open at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2015. This mural adorned the entrance wall of the main gallery and bridged the gap between decorative and fine arts, becoming a vibrant overture to the exhibition by merging traditional and contemporary use of the medium. In 2006 All Day Long, a site-specific installation at London's Piccadilly Circus underground station was a minimalist geometric installation of vivid colours, creating an immersive experience for travellers. In 2016, Pallant House, Chichester opened Götz's Composition for a Staircase, commissioned to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the gallery's contemporary wing, while Xanadu, commissioned for the reopening of Leeds Art Gallery in 2017, combined the Victorian staircase with abstract contemporary wall painting, complementing the gallery's extensive refurbishment programme. Incorporating the restoration of the building's original glass ceiling, the new configuration offered visitors an opportunity to experience light-filled spaces and to explore the gallery's rich collection displays, alongside Joseph Beuys' major inaugural exhibition. In 2019 the Towner in Eastbourne unveiled Dance Diagonal, Götz's dazzling mural covering the exterior west wall, celebrating the new building's 10th anniversary. In 2021, Pool, a site-specific wall painting commissioned for the Holden Gallery, at Manchester School of Art (now part of Manchester Metropolitan University), was inspired by the gallery’s Victorian architecture. By completely painting the interior walls of the gallery, Götz transformed the space into a colourful, immersive environment, connecting the historical stone arches with the white walls that erase the gallery's history after each show.

Götz has had numerous exhibitions and site-specific commissions in the UK and abroad and shows regularly with London’s contemporary gallery, domobaal. In addition to his artistic practice, Götz has had an extensive academic and teaching career, commencing as a Visiting Lecturer in 1998 at various institutions, including Glasgow School of Art; Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford; University of Newcastle; London's Byam Shaw School of Art, and the Royal College of Art, where he continues to teach. His career at the University of Sunderland began in 1999 when he was appointed Lecturer in Fine Art, advancing to Senior Lecturer in 2001, subsequently serving as a Reader in Fine Art from 2016 and then as Associate Professor in Fine Art, a role he has held since 2018. Götz has also received awards, residencies, and bursaries in the UK and abroad. In 1997-98, he was honoured with the DAAD Award for London, followed by the London Arts Board Award in 2000. In 2006, he was awarded the Cocheme Fellowship at Central Saint Martins and Byam Shaw School of Art and in 2010 he was recipient of an Abbey Fellowship at The British School at Rome.

Lothar Götz currently lives and works between London and Berlin. His work is held in several public collections in the UK, including the Usher Museum in Lincoln, Mead Gallery/University of Warwick Art, Chichester's Pallant House, Royal London Hospital, and the Government Art Collection.

Related books

Zoe Watson and Tom Emery, eds., Lothar Götz - Pool, exh. cat. (Manchester: Holden Gallery, 2021)
Catherine Loewe et al., Colour Space: David Batchelor, Ian Davenport, Lothar Götz, Jim Lambie, Annie Morris, Fiona Rae, exh. cat. (Milan: Silvana editoriale/Cinisello Balsamo, 2021)
Oliver Zybok, ed., Back to the Future - Lothar Götz, exh. cat. (Lübeck: Overbeck Gesellschaft, 2020)
Sarah Brown and Bazon Brock, Lothar Götz - Staircases, exh. cat. (London: domobaal editions, 2017)
Charles Darwent, Lothar Götz: Line Drawings 2009–14, exh. cat. (London: Ridinghouse, 2015)
Daniel F. Herrmann, ed., The London Open 2015, exh. cat. (London: Whitechapel Gallery, 2015)
Erik Schönenberg, Lothar Götz - Häuser für Tollmi, exh. cat. (Goch: Museum Goch, 2004)

Public collections

Related organisations

Byam Shaw School of Art (Visiting Lecturer )
Glasgow School of Art (Visiting Lecturer )
Royal College of Arts (Student and Visiting Lecturer)
Ruskin School of Art (Visiting Lecturer )
University of Newcastle (Visiting Lecturer )
University of Sunderland (Associate Professor)
Wimbledon College of Art (Visiting Lecturer )

Selected exhibitions

The Four Seasons (solo exhibition), domobaal, London (2023)
Masterpieces in Miniature: The 2021 Model Art Gallery (group show), Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (2021–22)
Pool (solo site-specific installation), Holden Gallery, Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester (2021)
Royal Academy Summer/Winter Exhibition 2020, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2020)
Fairground Abstract (solo exhibition), Hatton Gallery, Newcastle–Upon–Tyne (2019)
Colour/Balance (group show), Frestonian Gallery, London (2019)
Xanadu (solo site-specific installation), Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds (2017-ongoing)
Connection (site-specific installation in a group show), The London Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2015)
All Day Long (solo site-specific installation in a group project), London Underground/Platform for Art/Piccadilly Circus, London (2006)
Forever Young (solo site-specific installation), Chisenhale Gallery, London (2002)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Lothar Götz]

Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.

Lothar Götz artist