A.R. Penck was born Ralf Winkler in Dresden. He is a self-taught artist who took a special interest in Picasso, Rembrandt and in prehistoric cave paintings. It is the cave painting that seem most evident in Penck's Z1.
In 1966, Penck coined the term "Stand-Art" for his work. He was expelled from the former East Germany for his non-conformist concept of art. For his Z1, Penck says, "I am interested in how art relates to art, how art relates to technology--and above all how art relates to a solid object. I was also interested in confronting the technical aspects of the car's design."