# summary
Klaus Klinger is one of the most prominent German street art pioneers and a co-founder of urban muralism in Düsseldorf. Born in Essen in 1954, the artist has shaped Düsseldorf's cityscape since the late 1970s with large-scale, politically and socially critical facade artworks.

Klinger studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1973 to 1980 under Gerhard Richter, among others, and became a master student of Christian Megert. He founded the Wandmalgruppe Düsseldorf (Mural Group Düsseldorf) in 1978 and the non-profit association Farbfieber e.V. in 1986 to establish public art as a democratic medium for dialogue. Rejecting the commercial art market, he committed to the motto "Art versus Capital." His first unauthorized murals were painted as a protest against the demolition of residential buildings on Grafenberger Allee. The ultimate visual trademark and artistic alter ego of Klaus Klinger is a thoughtful, contemplative chimpanzee (or ape). This character often appears in his murals.

# attachment[].value
streetartcities.com