Jiri Georg Dokoupil was born in 1954 in Krnov, then Czechoslovakia, and in the seventies he studied fine art in Cologne, Frankfurt and New York. In 1982 he had one-man exhibitions in Cologne, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Paris. At the beginning of the eighties Dokoupil was a prominent member of the German neo-expressionist group Mülheimer Freiheit (together with Walter Dahn and four other artists). The artistic propositions of this group which coincided with similar ideas in the USA and in Italy, were greeted by excitement from art critics and, in retrospect, belong to one of the most influential movements of the international art scene of the eighties.

Dokoupil's work is difficult to describe using common classifications. There is no consistent style in his work. This is why Dokoupil can be described as an exemplary post-modern artist. Directness, the ability to express himself strongly and the analysis of eroticism characterise his paintings. Extensive picture cycles in which he elegantly adapts styles of avant-garde art movements, such as abstraction, surrealism or pop art recur. His work is influenced by the pictorial language of comics and advertising, which is simultaneously cited and alienated through parody. The works have a strongly self-referential character. The artist continuously renews his work by the invention of new techniques and styles, for instance since 1989 by the creation of so-called soot paintings, in which the flame of a candle replaces the paintbrush.

The stylistically and iconographically extremely varied work of this painter, draughtsman and sculptor has been exhibited since the eighties at prestigious museums and institutions.