Walter Roos creates his gray drawings using the “very old school” pen and resin oil, focusing on time, moments, curves, and faces (particularly of women).
Walter Roos is a German artist from Nuremberg, the hometown of his source of inspiration and mentor Albrecht Dürer. His education path includes three years as a stonemason/sculptor, a year of communication design, and five years of studying art in Cologne. Today, Walter owns/lectures at “Artfusion” (Studio, Artschool and Producer Gallery in Euskirchen) where he’s been exhibiting his work since 1998. His artworks are part of worldwide private collections.
“As a teenager, I thought that if I could draw like Dürer, I would become an artist,” Walter says. “I kept drawing and mustered up the courage to attend a consultation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg. They told me that I had talent that could be developed. That’s when I started my ‘study of nature’ and simply drew everything I came across.”
Yohaku No Bi Gray Drawings: The Beauty of Empty Space
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A fascination with the naked female body
For a few years now, Walter Roos has focused on drawing. He was always dissatisfied with painting and he’s glad now that those days are over. Walter likes being able to incorporate his non finito style in his gray drawings and has a special fascination with the naked female body. “I love women in their very different appearances,” he says. “Thin, plump, young, or even older.”
Beauty of gray drawings frozen in time
For Walter, time is abstract, yet, visible in the changes in our bodies. Holding a moment for maybe centuries is a very interesting thought. This links to his unique, yohaku no bi (Japanese phrase that the beauty of empty space) style that’s also been polished by his years as a sculptor.



The freedom of crafting
Walter’s advice (which he also gives to students if they plan to choose the direction of art) is: “If you want to pursue this direction passionately, then do everything possible to acquire as much freedom as possible in your doing/working, especially in your craft. Nothing is more frustrating than noticing that I’m pushing my limits due to neglected practice.”
To see Walter’s latest drawings, visit Saatchi Art >
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