Reinhard Roy
(DE)
Reinhard Roy, born in Klitten, Lower Silesia, in 1948, studied at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle from 1969 to 1974. He received awards early on, including the 1976 Prize of the Berlin Office for Design, for which he later also worked as an external expert. In 1983, he was expatriated from the GDR for political reasons and moved to Frankfurt am Main.
In 1986, the grid became a central design feature in his artistic development. At the same time, Roy worked for the KfW banking group from 1984 to 2010 and collaborated with architects such as Fritz Keller, Heinz Scheid and Wolfgang Ritter. His career was marked by significant recognitions such as the Daniel Henry Kahnweiler Prize for Painting and Graphic Art (1987).
Between 1995 and 1999, he taught ‘Colour and Design’ at the University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden. International projects later took him to Rio de Janeiro, where he collaborated with Oscar Niemeyer and José Carlos Sussekind, and to New York as part of the ‘vertical city’ vision of the future. In 2020, he acquired Swiss citizenship.
Since 1976, Roy has realised numerous art and design projects for renowned institutions, including the official residence of the Federal President, KfW, the Sparkassenverband and Helvetische Bank Zurich. His works have been exhibited worldwide and are held in international collections.
(Photo © the artist)
