A life.
A world of his own.

Michael Plötz was a photographer, painter and an artist in search of new forms of expression. His work combines close observation with an imagination that extends beyond visible reality.

Born on 30 December 1954 in Halle/Saale, he moved with his family to Hamburg in 1960. Training as a photographer at Axel Springer in the 1970s laid the foundations of his artistic practice. Portraiture, composition and work in the darkroom shaped his eye.

In his twenties, he turned to painting. Modern abstract art and Surrealism offered starting points for a style of his own. Oil became his preferred medium; early supports often included primed wooden panels and found materials. His interest also extended to designed objects: in his second-hand shop, he restored and sold design classics, including pieces from the Art Nouveau and Bauhaus periods.

From the early 1980s, he brought computers into his artistic work. His first computer, a C64, was followed by an AMIGA and synthesizers, and later by PCs. Digital image processing and self-produced music extended his work with camera, canvas, pen and brush. In his autobiographical account, he also described holding his own exhibitions in Hamburg. In 1985, he opened a studio where he showed his work. After several years near Munich, he returned to Hamburg in 1992 and settled in Finkenwerder.

Michael Plötz died on 16 March 2022. His estate contains hundreds of works, revealing a distinctive visual world between body and construction, observation and transformation.