Dieter Roth

 Born in Hanover of a Swiss father and German mother. Moved to Switzerland 1943. Began to make drawings, oil paintings and prints in various media, and to write poems. Graphic design apprentice at Bern 1947-51. Started in 1954 to make experimental works, including his first baked sculpture, experiments with Op art, first book with holes and first film. Lived from 1955-7 in Copenhagen, then moved to Reykjavik, Iceland. Made kinetic pictures and sculptures, pictures made with half-tone screens, photograms, and had his first one-man exhibition at the Mokka Kaffi, Reykjavik, 1958. Received a William and Noma Copley Foundation Award in 1960. Lived in the USA 1964-7, where he taught at Yale and elsewhere, and began making pictures and objects incorporating chocolate and other edible materials subject to decomposition. Large output of experimental books and prints. Made series of paintings and drawings in collaboration with Richard Hamilton from 1976; has also made prints in collaboration with Hamilton or Arnulf Rainer. Lives in Reykjavik, with visits to Düsseldorf, Berlin, London.( tate.org.uk )