Neo Rauch is a painter from the former DDR/Leipzig Germany.  His paintings reflect a personal history along with the politics of “industrial alienation” (love that phrase).  Not only does he paint images of my visual fetish and live in a city I love, but Neo himself possess the looks of a more intense/introverted Steve McQueen.  Ahhhh.. what is a girl to do?!?

Here is my favorite reply from this interview series, translated to english…

“Four weeks of vacation in Tuscany. I have been there, painting not a single stroke. Although I did not want to, because I like to take a rest too… In Tuscany, nothing even occurred, Nothing happened, but I felt very comfortable. There was no dissonance. It was all in good order. The wine and the olive oil flowed. The sea roared.  But that was not the place - and has never been the place - where I received an inspiration.”   

Yes, I understand this feeling completely.  Perhaps we share the same Heimat.