Born in Detmold, Germany in 1944, Karl Wiebke studied Fine Art at the Hochschule fr bildende Kunst in Hamburg from 1972-1976 before arriving in Australia in 1981. He settled in Perth for a period of twenty years and has recently relocated to Melbourne in 2001.

Since his first solo exhibition in 1968 at Die Malwand in Rotenburg, Germany, Wiebke has exhibited consistently in Germany, India, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. He has won several notable awards including the Australia Council Artists Development Fellowships Grant in 1990, the Australia-India Council Grant of 1999 and an Arts WA Creative Development Grant Fellowship in 2000.

As Margaret Moore observed in her 1995 essay, ‘What Constitutes Painting?’ in Monument magazine (Monument no.7,1995,p.62) “Through mercurial manipulations and an understanding that comes from practice and experience, Karl Wiebke transforms enamel paints on unconventional wooden surfaces into jewel-like, seductive objects which command the space they occupy.” By setting a working agenda for himself, such as applying one layer of paint each day to a ground or support for a period of five or six years (thus reflected in his title Six 1-6, 1984-1989) or adhering to strict daily hours of work, Wiebke acknowledges the mundane, day-in day-out experience that is work for most people. The product of his labours, however, is never mundane as his finished paintings mesmerize with an unparalleled depth and complexity of colours and textures.

Wiebke’s contribution to Australian painting was celebrated in 1994 with a major retrospective exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth. His work is represented in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, the National Gallery of Victoria, The Art Gallery of Western Australia and numerous corporate and private collections in Germany, India and Australia.

Karl Wiebke lives and works in Melbourne.