CV
Not too long ago, I received a friendly reminder to finally send in my biography for an exhibition catalogue.
No sooner had I begun to condense it down to the required 1,800 characters than it struck me that, whilst it contains many facts, these do not in any way describe me – and, above all, the very essence from which my work springs. It is a sequence of chronological events, such as my long stay in Japan, but nothing more. Events which may not even be of particular interest.
It was simply meant to appear in an exhibition catalogue … Bored by this, I turned to another activity and, whilst doing so, read a letter by the German mystic and theosophist Jakob Böhme, which he wrote on the Feast of the Assumption in 1621.
In a most wondrous way, I found both myself and my work reflected in it, and I now reproduce excerpts from it here in place of my CV.
– How well the sun has shone upon me once more for a fair while, though not always persistently. When it has hidden itself, I have scarcely understood my own work, and this so that man might recognise that knowledge is not his own, but
God’s, that God knows in the soul of man what and how He wills.
Therefore, my entire work is that of a pupil who goes to school. God has led my soul into a wondrous school, and in truth I can attribute nothing to myself, that my selfhood might be or understand anything. Let no one think more highly of me than he sees here.
For the work in my labour is not mine. I have it only to the extent that it is granted to me by the Lord. I am but His instrument, with which He does what He wills.
Let no one seek in me another whom I am not, such as one of art and high reason, but I live in weakness and childhood, in the simplicity of Christ, in the childlike works He has given me.
In this I find my play and my pastime. In this I find my joy, as in a pleasure garden where many noble flowers grow. With these I wish to delight myself for the time being, until I once again attain the flowers of paradise in the new man –
This text by Jakob Böhme says more about me than my own life story ever could.
Landau in der Pfalz, on this day, 4 March 2026
To watch the movie please click here
Der Silberbildermacher from Steffen Diemer on Vimeo.
Sanftmut in der Natur eine stille Ruhe from Steffen Diemer on Vimeo.
Group exhibitions
2026 IPAD New York | IBASHO Gallery
2026 Photo Basel | Ira Stehmann Fine Art Gallery
2026 Photo London | Ira Stehmann Fine Art Gallery
2026 Winningen Art Days
2026 Art Karlsruhe, Persiehl & Heine Gallery
2025 Pursuit of Happiness | Gallery Clara Maria Sels
2025 Paris Photo, Persiehl & Heine
2025 Munich Highlights, Ira Stehmann Fine Art
2025 Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Expedition Weltmeere
2025 Unseen Amsterdam, Gallery Persiehl & Heine
2025 German Japan Museum Mitsuko Castle all_black :: yugen
2025 Photo London Somerset House, Ira Stehmann Gallery
2025 Port 25 Mannheim, Staubfrei
2025 Mia Photo Art Fair Milan, Gallery Lab 130
2025 Art Karlsruhe, Gallery Commeter
2024/2025 Echo of silence Gallery Ira Stehmann Fine Art
2024 Former Villa of the Kornfeld Gallery, Zurich,
The unique piece in photography
2024 Photo London Somerset House, Galerie Ira Stehmann Fine Art
2024 Galerie Albert Baumgarten, Focus Photography
2024 Japanmuseum Schloss Mitsuko, Mu, the absolute nothing
2024 Art Karlsruhe, Galerie Albert Baumgarten, Galerie Persiehl & Heine
2024 Bright Days Ahead, Galerie Persiehl & Heine, Hamburg
2023 Der gläserne Blick, Museum Villa Rot
2023 München Highlights, Ira Stehmann Fine Arts
2023 8. Roter Kunstsalon, Galerie Albert Baumgarten
2023 Natur in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Marsano, Berlin
2022 Objective Unobjective Gallery Chr. Pixis Munich
2022 Diamonds are forever | Port 25
2022 Gallery Peter Zimmermann | Kunstverein Mannheim
2021 Luxembourg art week, Gallery Albert Baumgarten
2021 Cologne Fine Art Fair, Gallery Kirbach, Gallery Albrecht
2021 Museum Villa Rot, Gallery Albert Baumgarten
2020 Cologne Fine Art Fair, Galerie André Kirbach, Galerie Albrecht (canceled)
2020 Museum Rot, Roter Kunstsalon, Galerie Albert Baumgarten
2020 Positions Berlin, Galerie Susanne Albrecht
2020 Photo Basel, Galerie Susanne Albrecht
2020 Mit Abstand, Galerie Albert Baumgarten
2020 Art Karlsruhe, Galerie Albert Baumgarten & Galerie Susanne Albrecht
2019 Art Karlsruhe, Galerie Albert Baumgarten
2019 Positions Berlin, Galerie Susanne Albrecht
2019 COFA Köln, Galerie Albert Baumgarten
2019 Art Week Luxembourg, Galerie Albert Baumgarten
2018 Geschichten über…, Kunstraum Gerdi Gutperle, Viernheim
2018 Die verborgene Gegenwart, Galerie Maul, Ladenburg
2018 Zierde ihrer Stadt, Stadtmuseum Kaiserslautern
2018 Cologne Fine Art, Galerie Albert Baumgarten
2017 Gruppenausstellung, Be Art Heidelberg
2016 Von Kopf bis Fuß, Galerie Conzen, Düsseldorf
Solo exhibitions
2026 Gallerie Persiehl & Heine Hamburg
2026 Museum Forum Alte Post
2026 Japan Museum Mitsuko Castle | A Phenomenology of Fragility
2026 Gallery Parallax | Aix-en-Provence | together with Bertrand Hugues
2026 Representative Office of Rhineland-Palatinate | Berlin together with W. Flad
2025 Hibhiki |Gallery Lab 130, Milano
2024 Rue Paul Bert | Peter Zimmermann Gallery
2023 Leica Gallery Salzburg | Closest to Silence
2023 Galerie Helena Vayhinger | becoming - passing away - returning
2023 Dr. Robert Gerlich Museum | Gentleness in nature a silent peace
2023 Iserlohn Municipal Gallery | Slowly and very gently
2022 Museum Theo Kerg | together with Hannah Schemel
2022 Gallery Peter Zimmermann, together with Hannah Schemel
2021 Gallery Albert Baumgarten, Freiburg together with Hannah Schemel
2021 Gallery Andre‘ Kirbach, Düsseldorf together with Hannah
2020 Haruka ushiro (Weit dahinter), Galerie Susanne Albrecht
2020 zu zweit, Galerie Vayhinger, Singen, with Hannah Schemel
2019 Kunst Koch in Kooperation mit Galerie Albert Baumgarten, with Hannah Schemel
2018 Still Silver, Museum Forum Alte Post, Pirmasens
2018 Poesie der Photographie, Galerie Albert Baumgarten, Freiburg
2018 Werkschau, Photokina Köln
2018 Amerikas verborgene Orte, Kurpfälzisches Museum im Mark Twain Center, Heidelberg
2017 Lange Nacht der Museen, Rahmenmuseum Düsseldorf
2016 Everything is connected, Galerie p77a, Brühl
2016 Always a little wonder, Galerie Be Art, Heidelberg
2015 Flowers, Galerie Kunstmaßnahmen, Heidelberg
Galleries
Gallery Commeter, Persiehl & Heine, Hamburg
Commeter, Persiehl & Heine
Tel.: +49(0)40 32 63 21
Ira Stehmann Fine Art
www.irastehmann.com
Tel. +49 171 264 1293
LAB 1930. FOTOGRAFIA CONTEMPORANEA
Via Mantova 21
20135 Milano/Italy
www.lab130.com
Galerie Albert Baumgarten
Kartäuserstrasse 32
79102 Freiburg
www.galerie-baumgarten.de
Tel. +49 761 35298