Wolfgang Utzt is a legend among make-up artists. As a cordial companion to directors such Benno Besson, Thomas Langhoff, Heiner Müller, Robert Wilson or Jürgen Gosch, he participated in many productions at the Deutsche Theater Berlin. His make-ups, figurines, graphics and mask designs have made theatre history. They contain an aesthetic dimension, a `self-determination` that makes them exceptional, entirely individual symbols and expressions of a cultural history of modern times.
I have never created a mask as an end in itself. My work is for the actors, it´s them for whom I´ve actually done it all. What is made beforehand in the workshop or at the make-up desk is, at first, purely a craft object. The power of its radiant potential is released only in the communication process, initiated by the actor, between stage and audience.
- Wolfgang Utzt