Michael Becker: “Under the Protection of the Red Rose” (2020), framed reproduction, giclée print on canvas

"Art with Pleasure" – this is the motto under which Bremen artist Michael Becker has placed his work. The graphic artist, illustrator, painter, and sculptor creates fantastical-surreal and figurative symbioses of humanity and nature – combined with erotic allusions, irony, and humor. "My art should be fun and aesthetically pleasing," he says. Becker, born in 1951, initially worked for many years as a graphic designer and began exhibiting his work as an artist in 1994. Becker's visual world, even in three dimensions, is fantastical and strives for consummate aesthetics. It aims to express beauty in the classical sense. His motifs repeatedly bring together the themes of humanity and nature, mostly in the depiction of erotic female figures who do not compete with the beauty of nature but are profoundly symbiotically connected to it. "For me, nature has the essence of a woman: inspiring, fascinating, impressive, and full of transformation."