Gregor Hildebrandt

Gregor Hildebrandt is a German artist based in Berlin, internationally acclaimed for his unique use of analog media such as cassette tapes, VHS tapes, and vinyl records. With these materials, he creates minimalist yet emotionally resonant paintings, sculptures, and installations that explore memory, sound, and time. Though restrained in form, his work carries a quiet romanticism, transforming invisible concepts like nostalgia and temporal experience into physical, visual language.

Artist Creative Approach
Originally trained as a painter, Hildebrandt has developed a singular approach that merges painterly intuition with conceptual precision. His recent return to painting builds on this trajectory, integrating the sensibilities of sound, cinema, and personal memory into layered visual surfaces. Central to his process is the “Rip-off technique”, a signature method in which magnetic tape is adhered to a glue-coated canvas and then peeled away, leaving behind fine, linear traces of the magnetic coating. These residues produce rhythmically structured, often monochrome compositions that evoke sound, movement, and memory, retaining the ghost of the media’s original content while erasing its legibility.

This dialogue between absence and presence, loss and material trace, is at the heart of Hildebrandt’s practice. His work operates as a form of media archaeology, using silent tapes as vessels of personal and cultural history. These visual “scores” capture the emotional resonance of lost recordings, allowing viewers to engage with what is no longer heard but still felt.

In his latest series, Hildebrandt draws inspiration from Venice, revisiting Palazzo Pisani, which he first explored artistically six years ago. The new works reflect a deeply personal response to the city and its cinematic representation. Their color palette, blues, browns, yellows, and greens—derives from two Venice-set films: Le Guignolo (1980) and Pane e Tulipani. These tones are first painted onto white canvases, then partially covered with VHS tape using the Rip-off technique. The impressions are mirrored across paired canvases, forming visual dialogues rooted in reflection, repetition, and emotional memory.

Hildebrandt’s sculptural works extend these themes. In “Gisela-Säule”, inspired by a colorful Pucci dress worn by his dear friend Gisela. In “Ritter”, a sculpture referencing a metro-station column and the iconic Ritter Sport chocolate bars, he plays with color and memory through the lens of urban ritual. Both pieces showcase his interest in pattern, everyday materials, and the poetry of recurrence.

Download PDF