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Alfred Alexander Gockel was born in the coal mining town of Lüdinghausen, Germany in 1952. Gockel's first work was published when the artist was only eight years old. At 16 he began to work in the coal mines, and planned on one day becoming an engineer. When the mining industry experienced a downturn, many of the town's inhabitants were left without jobs. The struggle that Gockel felt at this time continues to effect his artwork today.

“I like to touch the viewer's soul with my vibrant colors,” Gockel has said. “Often in my paintings I use elements that reflect my challenging past, when as a boy I worked in the coal mines. But my purpose is to express my joy in life, and to show that we can overcome many obstacles through the expressions of life's beauties.”

After spending more than two years in the army, Gockel refocused his attention on the arts and enrolled a the Polytechnic Academy in Münster, Germany in 1973, where he studied art and design and learned the techniques of lithography and silk-screening. Upon graduation, Gockel taught graphic design and typography at the academy. In the early 1980s Gockel decided to focus on his art full-time.

Gockel's unique style – boldly colored abstract images lined in thick black against a white canvas – has become his signature. “Art both influences culture and imitates it,” Gockel has said. “I am influenced by the colors, symbols, textures, fibers and designs used by different cultures around the world.”