Farewell to Friends

Memorial exhibition for Berlin artist Michael Ley

Opening: Friday, 6 March 2026 at 7 p.m.

Exhibition: 8 March to 19 April 2026

Opening hours: Sunday: 1:30–5:30 p.m., Monday: 5:30–9:30 p.m.

Works by Michael Ley, Achim Borsdorf, Udo Würtenberger and Giuliana Del Zanna

On 6 January, artist Michael Ley passed away at Franziskus Hospital in Berlin. Until early January, the artist had been planning an exhibition in our gallery together with Archi Galentz. This exhibition will now serve as a memorial exhibition, offering insight into Michael Ley’s diverse artistic oeuvre: From his extensive and varied oeuvre, we are showing paintings, colourful prints, objects, artist’s books, writings and project documentation in the exhibition.

The idea to exhibit his work together with that of artists Achim Borsdorf, Udo Würtenberger and Giuliana Del Zanna came from Michael Ley himself.

Michel Ley, born in West Berlin in 1953, was socialised in the turbulent and free Berlin. He first studied chemistry at the Technical University and felt increasingly drawn to the visual arts. He began to explore photography, started painting, learned etching techniques in 1983 and worked with woodcuts and linocuts. Since the 1990s, the artist has also worked with digital techniques and combined different printing techniques. He has been involved in mail art and has exhibited many portfolios and artist’s books. He has participated in the Free Berlin Art Exhibition since 1984 and has been represented at numerous festivals and exhibition projects. Wolf & Galentz has also exhibited his works three times in the past.

Since 2014, the bibliophile Pirckheimer–Gesellschaft e. V.  (link to German website) has documented Ley’s lively exhibition activity on its website.

It was Michael’s wish that our gallery take care of his artistic estate.

In the cabinet, we are showing ‘Berlin Dialogues’, pictures from our collection and some invited positions, including works by and about the graphic artist Eberhard Franke, who died in 2004 and would have turned 2026 years old. We also present art by Caroline Pinger, Klaus Jurgeit, Klaus Fußmann, Edwin Dickman and several works on paper by Robert Rehfeld, who, like Ley, enjoyed experimenting with different forms of artistic expression; the works of the two correspond with each other.