Neo Rauch (born 18 April 1960, in Leipzig, East Germany) is a German artist whose monumental paintings owe a debt to Surrealists Giorgio de Chirico and René Magritte. With echoes of socialist realism, Rauch exhaustively mines the intersection of his personal history with the politics of industrial alienation. He studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, and he lives and works in Leipzig (Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei), Germany.

Rauch's paintings suggest a narrative intent but, as art historian Charlotte Mullins explains, closer scrutiny immediately presents the viewer with enigmas: "Architectural elements peter out; men in uniform from throughout history intimidate men and women from other centuries; great struggles occur but their reason is never apparent; styles change at a whim."

Rauch won the Vincent Award in 2002. His work was featured at the 2005 Carnegie International in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and he had his first solo North American museum exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum in St. Louis, MO in 2003-2004. His first Canadian exhibit was held at the Musee d'art contemporain de Montreal in 2006.

Rauch's parents died in a train accident when he was four weeks old. He grew up with his grand parents in Aschersleben and passed his exam at the Thomas-Müntzer-Oberschule (now Gymnasium Stephaneum). At the Leipziger Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (Higher Education for Graphic and Book Art) Rauch studied Painting. He then was Masterstudent with Professor Arno Rink (1981–1986) and with Professor Bernhard Heisig (1986-1990). After the Fall of the GDR Rauch worked from 1993 to 1998 as an assistant to Arno Rink and Sieghard Gille at the Leipziger Akademie.

In August 2005, he became Professor at the Leipziger Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst. Together with Timm Rautert he was curator for the exhibit "Man muss sich beeilen, wenn man noch etwas sehen will..." ("One has to hurry, if one still wants to see something...") at Gut Selikum in Neuss.

Rauch works with his spouse and artist Rosa Loy at a former cotton-mill about which he says: "It is the location of concentration and inspiration. Here the best ideas come to me."

In painting "Characteristic, suggestion and eternity“ are important markt of quality.

Rauch is considered to be part of the New Leipzig School and his works are characterized by a style that lies close to the Social Realism of communism. Especially American critics prefer to recognize in his contemporary style a post communist Surrealism. But more than anyone Rauch is recognized as an East-West painter. Rauch merges the modern myths of both Warschau Pact and the Western world in a surrealistic dream. His figures are portrayed in a landscape in which an American Comic-Aestheticism meets the Social Realism of communism. In the art publication „Texte zur Kunst“ (Texts about Art, number 55) he was defined as an example for a new German neo-conservatism.

One of his promoters, Roberta Smith (journalist for the New York Times), caused great enthusiasm in the US for Rauch's works with an article about the "painter, who came from the cold." Rauch's works are displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and were on show in solo exhibitions like the Wiener Albertina.

In 2007 Rauch painted a serie of works especially for a solo exhibition in the mezzanine of the modern art wing at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. This special exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum was called "Para." Rauch explains he enjoys the associations the word "para" evokes in his own mind and of his works at "Para" that they don't have a particular intention, but that they could signify anything to anyone.

Biographical information from Wikipedia.