Born in Salzburg
1989–92: Studied history and philosophy at the Free University of Berlin (FU)
1996: Studied fine art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden
2001: Graduated under Prof. Hans Peter Adamski
2003: Advanced student under Prof. Lutz Dammbeck

Scholarships/Awards/Grants

2002 Wiepersdorf Castle Residency Grant from the Saxony Cultural Foundation
2004 Lingen Art Prize (nomination)
2006 Project grant from the Saxony Cultural Foundation
2006 Project grant from the Province of Salzburg / Project grant from the Saxony Cultural Foundation
2008 Project grant from the Province of Salzburg / Project grant from the Saxony Cultural Foundation
2010 Residency grant from the Province of Salzburg in Paliano near Rome / Project funding from the Province of Salzburg
2012 Residency grant from the Province of Salzburg in Budapest
2013 Project funding from the City of Salzburg
2014 Residency grant from the City of Salzburg in Merano
2021 Residency grant from the Province of Salzburg in Lviv (Lemberg)

Works in public and private collections
City of Salzburg Collection, Salzburg State Collection, Rupertinum Salzburg, BKK Vienna Collection, City of Melle Collection, Neubrandenburg Art Collection; Pohl Collection, Beisteiner Collection, Wagner Collection

Film work (among others)

2018 Colonna, short film, 4K, 35 mins.

2013 Dans la tête de l’artiste, short film, Full HD, 15 mins

2011 Verloren ist in mir, short film, Full HD, 12 mins

2008 Jenseits des Sees, short film, 35 mm, 15 mins

2001 Zero, feature film, 35 mm, 75 mins, starring Frauke Menzinger

Exhibitions (among others)

2026 “Epiphanies”, Kunstverein Melle

2025 “Wounds”, Kunsthalle Hilsbach, Göteschendorf Monastery
“In the Vastness”, Seeresidenz Seeshaupt
“IAFF”, Musikbrauerei Berlin

2024 “REAL”, Pavillon am Milchhof
“IAFF”, Musikbrauerei Berlin

2022 “RAI”, Amsterdam

2020 “lantschaft”, Neubrandenburg Art Collection
“Natur”, Pavillon am Milchhof, Berlin

2019 “Filme”, Galerie Ursula Walter, Dresden
“lantschaft”, Galerie Alte Schule, Berlin
“Hofamanniana”, Galerie AG, Schwerin

2018 “Neue schwarze Romantik”, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
“COLONNA”, film premiere and exhibition, Staatstheater Schwerin
“Neue schwarze Romantik”, Topicuv Salon, Prague, Czech Republic
“Sommerfest”, Galerie AG, Friedrichshagen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
“Guiding Stars”, Galerie AG, Schwerin

2017 “Passeggiare”, City Gallery, Salzburg
“New Black Romanticism”, Museum of Arts, Bucharest, Romania
“face a face”, Lorient, France
“New Black Romanticism”, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin

2016 Art Karlsruhe,
Kunst Rai – Amsterdam
‘la vague desparate’, Pavillon am Milchhof, Berlin
‘Liason’, Uferhallen, Berlin

2015 ‘Rome of the North, Rome of the South’,
Galerie Mondrian Suite, Rome
Austrian Cultural Forum, Budapest
‘Eispalast’, Pavillon am Milchhof, Berlin

2014 “Lichtung 2”, Pohl Collection, Sylt;
“Komm in mein Boot”, Pavillon am Milchhof, Berlin;
“Berliner Salon”, Kunstverein Melle;
“Mitgebracht”, Cité des Arts, Paris;
“Schwerpunkt Malerei”, Palais Lichtenstein, Feldkirch;

2013 “Berliner Salon”, Kunsthaus Meiningen;
“In Situ-Ex Situ”, Galerie Pro Arte, Hallein;
“Focus on Painting”, Traklhaus, Salzburg;

2012 “Lichtung 1”, Pohl Collection, Sylt;
“Summer Hits”, Pavillon am Milchhof, Berlin;
“Art Acquisitions by the State of Salzburg 2010–2012”, Traklhaus, Salzburg;

2011 “Lost Within Me/Beyond the Lake”, Galerie in der Getreidegasse, Salzburg;

2010 “Crime Scene”, Beisteiner Collection, Nussdorf am Attersee;
“Everything Is Open to Doubt”, Galerie im Kamphus, Kampen/Sylt;

2009 “45x16x6.6 m”, Uferhallen, Berlin;
“Beyond the Lake”, Museum Pavilion, Salzburg;

2008 “Beyond the Lake”, Galerie Baer, Dresden;
“Melle”, Kunstverein Melle;
“An Organ Rages Up There”, Schwerin Film Festival;

2007 “Randzonen”, Wall Galerie, Hamburg;
Kunstverein APEX, Göttingen;
“Parkhaus Recall”, Galerie Alte Schule, Berlin;

2006 “Heimkino”, Kunsthalle Luckenwalde;

2005 Galerie Röhr-Jenschke, Berlin;
“Reservewelten”, Galerie Baer, Dresden;
“Faistauer Prize for Painting”, Galerie im Traklhaus, Salzburg;
“Once Upon a Time in the West…”, Kunstverein Soest;

2004 “Neue Heimat”, Maierhof/Benediktbeuern Abbey;
“Farbe +”, Kunsthaus Essen;

2003 Kunstverein Melle;
“Ganz in Weiß”, Galerie Weißer Elefant, Berlin;

2002 “Movement… tectonic”, Galerie Anette Röhr, Osnabrück;
Galerie Capri, Berlin;

2001 “Art Students Exhibit”, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn;

Publications (among others)

2019 lantschaft, Galerie Alte Schule Adlershof, Neubrandenburg Art Collections

2017 Neue schwarze Romantik, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin

2013 Dans la tête de l’artiste, Galerie im Traklhaus/Palais Lichtenstein,
ISBN 978-3-9503205-6-5
Mitgebracht, Galerie im Traklhaus

2012 State Art Acquisitions 2010–2012, Galerie im Traklhaus

2011 Verloren ist in mir/Jenseits des Sees, incl. DVD, Beisteiner Collection,
moonfilm GmbH, Kerber Verlag, ISBN 9783-86678-513-7

2010 Everything Is Open to Doubt, with a novella by Oliver M. Pohl,
Galerie im Kamphus, Kampen/Sylt,
Parkwart Verlag, ISBN 978-3-00-031760-6

2008 *Up There an Organ Rages*, catalogue for the Schwerin Film Festival

2007 *Parkhaus-Recall*, Galerie alte Schule, Berlin

*Melle – Faces of a Town*, Kunstverein Melle

2005 *Once Upon a Time in the West…*, with a short story
by Kai Schubert and photographs by Frauke Menzinger,
Kunstverein Soest, Parkwart Verlag, ISBN 3-00-016477-4

Faistauer Prize for Painting, Galerie im Traklhaus

2004 *Neue Heimat*, Maierhof, Benediktbeuern Abbey

2003 *Painting*, with texts by Axel Schöpp, Kunstverein Melle

*Farbe +*, Kunsthaus Essen

Reviews

including: Kunstforum, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Hamburger Abendblatt, Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, Osnabrücker Zeitung, Göttinger Tageblatt, Schweriner Volkszeitung, Soester Anzeiger, Berliner Zeitung, Salzburger Nachrichten

Themes resurface in times of crisis-driven shifts in perception.

At their best, Berthold Bock’s landscapes serve as reservoirs of strength against an environment that is overheated not only by increasing speed. In his current works, as in early Romanticism, nature becomes a place of longing, a symbol of another world.
Asja Wolf wrote on this subject:
‘…The distinctive feature of Bock’s artistic practice lies in the mutual interpenetration of his films and paintings. The narrative power of his images sometimes provides the starting point for the fantastical mirror worlds of his films, just as film stills can become motifs for his paintings …The exhibition
*New Black Romanticism*, curated by Christoph Tannert in 2017, bridged the gap between the historical concept of Romanticism and the present-day world of the visual arts. The renaissance of that mindset—which spanned from Romanticism through Symbolism to Surrealism—describes, with its renewed turn towards the irrational, a longing for a slowing down within the global order. As a representative of this variant of Romanticism, Bock transports us into emotionally charged atmospheric landscapes.
These metaphorical carriers of meaning confront us with far more existential questions than their Romantic appearance might suggest at first glance. Of particular interest is the apparent anachronism in the genesis of his subjects.
At the outset of his career, his work consisted mainly of paintings ranging from abstract to highly abstract, executed in a Touchist style. In the 2000s, he created cool facades of modern luxury townhouses as a reflection of the growing lack of connection in our society. He also explores abstract portraits in the matter-of-fact style of Alex Katz. His exploration of the possibilities of painting currently culminates in the poetry of a primal experience of nature. The directness of his current works, verging on provocative pathos, represents, in a sense, the antithesis of ‘Bad Painting’. Anyone wishing to appreciate the results of this demonstrative rejection of established expectations of taste needs, to borrow a phrase from Susan Sontag, a ‘good taste for bad taste’. We do not need that with Berthold Bock, and that is a relief. Abstract thinking no longer causes quite so much pain. With this observation, Peter Lang points to the courageous renunciation of distancing codification in Bock’s painting. As one contemplates his pictures, a sense of stillness sets in. Perhaps even a touch of awe, which the experience of beauty condensed in painting demands against the backdrop of its fragility.
Christoph Tannert captures this state as the coexistence of an intangible sense of oppression and an atmosphere of security.”