Bernd Zimmer was long established at that time: The trained publisher and later book designer decided to become a painter during a journey through Mexico and the South of the United States of America. Together with Rainer Fetting, Helmut Middendorf, Salomé and other artists, the philosopher and religious scholar founded the “Selbthilfegalerie am Moritzplatz” (selp-help-gallery) in Berlin in 1977. There, under the title “Heftige Malerei”, the artists exhibited colorful, expressive paintings through which they were to go down in art history as “Neue Wilde”.
In 1979 Bernd Zimmer received a scholarship from the Karl Schmidt Rottluff Foundation, and in the early eighties he spent two years in Rome at the invitation of Villa Massimo. His work is recorded in numerous books and catalogues, especially the catalogue of works by Bernd Zimmer – Bilder auf Leinwand shows the painter’s artistic development.