Willi Kissmer was born in Duisburg, Nordrhein, Germany, in 1951.  From an early age Kissmer was drawn to the Arts.  Music was very important to Kisssmer and in the sixties he successfully played guitar in a rock band that released three albums.

 

Then in 1971 Kissmer decided to concentrate on the visual arts and enrolled at the Folkwangschule, Essen, where for five years he studied etching, lithography, printmaking and Fine Arts.

 

Kissmer still works and lives in Duisburg, living in a gothic revival tower overlooking  the Rhine with his wife and model and thier two Tibetan terriers.