Theo Bleckmann. ECM recording artist, vocalist and new music composer of eclectic tastes and prodigious gifts, 2-time GRAMMY NOMINATED and ECHO award recipient, Theo Bleckmann makes music that is accessibly sophisticated, unsentimentally emotional, and seriously playful, leading New York Times to describe him as “a vocalist of inventive instinct and assiduous musicality”. He has released 6 albums on Winter & Winter and collaborated with musicians and composers, including Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Michael Tilson Thomas, John Zorn, the Bang on a Can All-stars, and, most prominently, Meredith Monk. Bleckmann has been interview by Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air and appeared on the Letterman show with Laurie Anderson.

Bleckmann’s visual artwork is as playful and eclectic as his music: collages that re-imagine portraiture, incorporating humor, irritation, improvisation and wit through simple and direct means. Combining the fewest possible elements, Bleckmann uses fashion, sports and other printed imagery that often relies on emotional posing, to rework its pastiche of appearances into snapshots of human expressions and emotions. Inspired by artists like Kurt Schwitters, Hannah Höch, Richard Hamilton and John Baldessari, Bleckmann’s work eschews the obviously grotesque and uses improvisation with found materials to create new characters and spaces.

His work has been exhibited and sold in Germany, France and the US and also graced album covers by artists such as vocalist Kate McGary, guitarist Keith Ganz and singer/songwriter Peter Eldridge among others.