ABOUT ME

Philipp W. Richter

lives and works in Berlin. His artistic journey began in 2016, triggered by a formative hospital stay that marked the starting point of an intense inner and creative development process. This biographical experience continues to form the foundation of his exploration of layers of identity, perception, and reality.

As a self-taught artist, Philipp W. Richter has learned all of his techniques, forms of expression, and perspectives independently—away from academic institutions and detached from formal conventions. His works are characterized by a raw, honest visual language that combines emotional depth with social observation.

With his debut project "Layers of Berlin" (2025) he plans to make his personal perspective visible and position himself as an independent voice in the art world. The artist's self-written reflections on his journey, his motivations, and his methodology are an integral part of his artistic work.

This is followed by a self-written, personal CV in which Philipp W. Richter reflects on his own artistic journey in his own words — unfiltered, honest and close to his own experience.

Between the worlds

Born on 2 March 1990 in Rothenburg o.d.Tauber
Child of divorce, grew up without a biological father.

My childhood was a silent struggle between the longing for security and the harshness of reality. My stepfather mistreated me — what was supposed to be home became the first place where I learned to lose myself.

When my mother became seriously ill and her second marriage broke up, all that remained were shadows. Depression, anxiety, addiction. Years of battling against something that had no name — until art found me.

“My art has taught me that pain can have a certain beauty within it – and that love also has its ugly sides.”

First lessons in pain

My mother's illness, the farewell to my family, the endless cycle of depression — my body was often present, my mind was often far away.

My first works weren't paintings. They were signs of survival.
My fellow patients probably recognized themselves in my pictures —they bought them as if they were little mirrors of their own inner world. (2016)

In art therapy, I learned for the first time that you can scream with colors. Make the invisible visible. From the inside out.

The game of opposites

1 and 0. Black and white. Good and evil. Male and female. Anima and animus. Order and chaos. For as long as I can remember, I've lived between these poles.

In my art, collages, drawings, and mixed media interweave into an open dialogue of these opposites. I don't try to resolve them. I allow them to coexist.

“Two realities can be true at the same time.”

Aesthetics & Authenticity

My works may be beautiful.
But they can also hurt.
I don’t want to give answers, but rather create spaces.
Spaces in which viewers forget their everyday lives for a moment — or encounter themselves.

“My art can be beautiful – but it can also hurt.”

CV without end

I didn't become an artist.
I always have been.
Only the courage to show it came with time.
And it begins now. (2025)