KAKUAKMO — Academy of the New Modern

Bernhard Karlowitz studied Fine Arts at the Kassel State Academy of Art. As a student, he was an integral part of the academic vision of a »New Painting« within the class of Professor Rolf Lobeck. During the late 20th century, the Lobeck concept of painting—navigating the space between Informel and Figuration within the »New Painting (+ Media)« class—stood as a niche-academic counter-position to the dominant conceptualism of the era. Bernhard Karlowitz is one of the very few painters who has consistently advanced the proccesual nature of the Informel into the classical sujets of fine art. 

The painterly consistency documented throughout his œuvre over the past 30 years provides material falsification to the contemporary thesis that painting can no longer offer valid, autonomous answers after the rise of conceptualism.

To adopt an artistic position is merely a theoretical decision—yet to champion and defend it in its absolute consequence against the current for decades leads to that profound artistic maturity which ultimately resulted in the founding of KAKUAKMO as the Academy of the New Modern in 2021. 

Bernhard Karlowitz is one of the very few fine artists capable of discursively theorizing, communicating, and physically demonstrating art in equal measure. 

In contrast to the purely didactic and theoretical instruction found within the institutional educational machine, the theory of the working artist emerges directly from the practical application of material and the creating hands. This theory is never bound to an abstract textbook; it is deeply indebted to the concrete, physical problem arising from the painterly act upon the canvas. It stands as the demystification of theory: it culminates directly in the physical instruction of how the hand must guide the material—forcing authenticity to be materially earned, rather than merely conceptually claimed. 

Following ten years of independent professional practice as an artist, Karlowitz immersed himself in the study of ancient philosophy. He proceeded to reflect upon the thematic worlds of his art, alongside the technical dimensions of painting and drawing, distilling his insights into demanding university-level lecture texts, working protocols, and essays. A selection of these essays is published directly on this website and within the bernh-art Blog. 

 Students at the Academy of the New Modern enroll in either the »Drawing Masterclass« or the »Painting Masterclass«. All subject-specific specializations—such as »Landscape«, »Portrait«, »Free Drawing«, or »Figuration«—inevitably result from these two foundational paths of study. They form the bedrock of that ultimate unity which the school's opening maxim proclaims: