K. H. Hödicke fled with his family to Vienna in 1945. They moved to Berlin in 1957. In 1959 Hödicke began studying architecture at the Technical University of Berlin, but after a semester at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste he moved to the class of the painter Fred Thieler. From 1961 Hödicke was part of the neo-expressionist artist group Vision, which also included Bernd Koberling. In 1963 Hödicke married the artist Christa Dichgans, with whom he lived in New York in 1966/67. In 1964, together with Markus Lüpertz, Arnulf Spengler and Lambert Maria Wintersberger, he was involved in the founding of the exhibition group Großgörschen 35. On an empty factory floor at Großgörschenstraße 35 in Berlin-Schöneberg they rented an exhibition space that they managed themselves. Großgörschen opened with an exhibition by Hödicke. Hödicke received a DAAD scholarship in 1966 and went to New York with Dichgans. In 1968 he was a scholarship holder at the Villa Massimo in Rome. From 1974 onwards Hödicke was professor at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. Among his most famous students are Helmut Middendorf and Salomé. Hödicke exhibited at the René Block Gallery in Berlin and New York from 1965 on. He was also shown at Galerie Niepel in Düsseldorf (1965), Annina Nosei Gallery in New York (1981, 1983) and Galerie Gmyrek in Düsseldorf (1984). He participated in groundbreaking group exhibitions, including "Neuer Realismus", Haus am Waldsee, Berlin (1967), "Metamorphose des Dinges. Kunst und Antikunst 1910−1970", among others Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (1971/72), "Prospect 71", Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (1971), "Szene Berlin '72", Kunstverein in Hamburg (1972), "A New Spirit in Painting", Royal Academy of Arts, London (1981), "Zeitgeist. Internationale Kunstausstellung Berlin 1982", Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (1982/83), "New Painting from Germany", Tel Aviv Museum of Art (1983), "Berlinart 1961−1987", The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1987), "Neue Figuration. Deutsche Malerei 1960−1988", Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf/Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main (1989), "Deutschlandbilder. Kunst aus einem geteilten Land", Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (1997), "Berlin − Moskau/Moskau − Berlin 1950−2000", Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin/Tretjakow-Galerie, Staatliches Historisches Museum, Moscow (2003/04), "German Pop", Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main (2014) and "International Pop", Walker Art Center, Minneapolis/Dallas Museum of Art/Philadelphia Museum of Art (2015/16). Hödicke was given solo exhibitions and retrospectives in the following institutions, among others: Haus am Waldsee, Berlin (1981), K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf/Kunsthalle Mannheim (1986/87), Berlinische Galerie (1988, 1998, 2013), Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (1993), Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal (1997) and Villa Grisebach, Berlin (2015). Hödicke was also present at "documenta 6" (1977) and at the Venice Biennale in 1990. In 1983 he received the German Critics' Award and in 1998 the Fred Thieler Prize for Painting from the Berlinische Galerie.
