Helge Hensel - Artist's Life

Helge Hensel, born in 1960 in Frankfurt am Main, already shows as an adolescent great interest in painting and sculpting. 1977 when a friend gave him a box of oil paints, he was introduced to the world of oil painting.           

Playfully at first, though filled with ambition, Hensel experimented with oil painting, although he had to end his formal education shortly thereafter, due to serious illness.

Out of necessity, charcoal and pencil drawings were added in 1980. Even though Hensel preferred the styles of Impressionism, Fauvism, and especially Expressionism, not only did he not have the funds needed for canvas and paints, he also did not have the appropriate room for painting.

Hensel completed his education in a traditional profession and was able to return to his interest in painting in 1989. On his own, he deepened his knowledge of techniques and increased his dexterity.

Following his initial attempts at Realism, he quickly developed a strong affinity to a very expressionistic style and then to Abstraction, which is very convincing through its certainty in the use of color. Further, he completed exceptional works using a hybrid technique, utilizing various materials, wire, and plaster on wood, which were then colorfully re-touched. The first sales of his works in 1990 aided Hensel in his decision to become a freelance professional painter/artist.

In August 1991, his painting "Basar" was exhibited at the Frankfurt Free Art Exhibition. In December of the same year, a still life and a landscape of his were exhibited at the Christmas Exhibition of Frankfurt's Artists in the Römer. In December 1993/ January 1994 he participated in a Group Exhibition of the Frankfurter Painting Academy at the Bornheimer Town Hall. In addition, a changing selection of Hensel's works was to be seen in the arcades next to the Arabella Grand Hotel, where the artist maintained a showcase from August 1991 until December 1994. From October 1994 until December 1994, Hensel's works were exhibited in a One-Man-Exhibition in the Frankfurter Volksbank am Weißen Stein. There were approximately 60 works: oil on canvas, oil and hybrid technique on wood, acrylic on wood and acrylic on paper. Numerous exhibitions followed.