Abel Auer was born in Munich and grew up in Stuttgart. After completing his schooling there, he was active as an artist/painter in Hamburg, where he co-founded the artist group Akademie Isotrop and studied at the HFBK under Werner Büttner and Hans-Joachim Lenger.

In addition to his painting practice—which, through its engagement with folk art, counterculture (1960s, punk, etc.), and early modernism (symbolism), can be understood as a critique of 20th-century art-historical narratives—he has collaborated extensively with other artists and, in self-organized initiatives, sought to create spaces where artists can assert their own authority over the art object, independent of curators, gallerists, theorists, and other “experts.”

Alongside numerous international exhibitions of his works, primarily in England and Belgium, where he also lived between 2006 and 2014, Abel Auer writes about art and music for catalogs and online publications, designs album covers, occasionally produces music videos, and sometimes works as a curator.