Stefan Plenkers was born in 1945 in Ebern near Bamberg (Bavaria) and grew up in Görlitz (Saxony). From 1967 to 1972 he completed a study of graphic art at the Academy of Art in Dresden where he became a master student under Gerhard Kettner until 1982. Between 1986 and 1994 he embarked on many study travels taking in Berlin, Iraq, China, Lapland and the USA. In 2011 he was honoured with a retrospective of his work at the Städtische Galerie in Dresden. Stefan Plenkers last lived and worked in Dresden, where he died in 2024.