A piece of paper, a canvas, a piece of linoleum – a line incised, or in charcoal, graphite, biro or oil paint. The line becomes a woman, a flower, a vase, a bunch of flowers, a suggestion of a room, a landscape, a face, many faces.
A new piece of paper, a new canvas, a new linoleum: a new line, another woman, another flower, another vase, another face. Or did the colour come first? Cinnabar green and madder lake, caput mortuum, ivory black, cadmium yellow, cobalt violet, ultramarine… planes of colour collide with one another, are layered on top of one another, removed again, applied again – until, out of the colours and lines, a picture has emerged on the canvas.
These paintings are distinguished by a sensual directness and an attitude of openness, equally the linocuts and the drawings on paper.
The dissolution of forms produces new forms – but this dissolution, unlike the abstractions of post-war modernism, is not first and foremost an expression of doubt. There is room for doubt in Matthias Dornfeld‘s pictures, but at the same time one also sees in them a great love of things and of life itself. They are at once vigorous and direct, tender and delicate. The dark and the uncanny encounter beauty, lightness and sensuality. Abstraction and empathy: lines and colours become ever new figures, faces, bunches of flowers, both prototypical and individual. They are timeless, but with a presence that is absolutely contemporary. A new piece of paper, a new canvas, a new piece of linoleum, a new line.
Text by Christine Heidemann
Vita
1960
Matthias Dornfeld is born in Esslingen
(lives and works in Berlin)
2014—2015
Guest professor at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Munich, in replacement of Günther Förg
Selected Solo Shows
2023
L’Amour Change Tout – Oldenburger Kunstverein
CRÈME FRAÎCHE – JVDW gallery, Düsseldorf
2023
Danke Esslingen – Kunstverein Esslingen
2021
Matthias Dornfeld – MPF-TATA, Zwitschermaschine, Berlin
2019
Cox Orange – bürobasel., Basel
2018
Cinzano – Jahn und Jahn, Munich
2017
Quadrupede – Soy Capitán, Berlin
Armory Show – Solo booth, Waldburger Wouters, New York
2016
Karussell – Helsinki Contemporary, Helsinki
A loose tooth in the booth – Bruce Haines, Mayfair, London
2015
Donnerstag – Galerie Jahn Baaderstrasse, Munich
Reliability of Recognition – Bolte Lang, Zurich
2014
Die Schönheit der Frau des Bäckers – Waldburger Wouters, Brussels
over the loo and far away – Macke Prinz, Berlin
Haderlump – Jagla Ausstellungsraum, Cologne
Visiting – Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, Munich
2013
VIELE GRÜSSE! – Reception, Berlin
ALLES GUTE! – Soy capitàn, Berlin
XX776 – Galerie Jahn Baaderstrasse, Munich
2012
Galerie Waldburger, Brussels
Hoba! – Jacky Strenz Galerie, Frankfurt a. M.
Soy capitàn, Berlin
2011
No Deleuze – No Flip-Flops, San Juan
hallo hepp! – Kunstverein Heppenheim, Heppenheim
Casado Santapau, Madrid
2010
Galerie Patrick Waldburger, Brussels
Crisis Line – Blanket Gallery, Vancouver
Selig wer geliebt sich weiss – Autocenter, Berlin
Galerie Ben Kaufmann, Berlin
2009—2003
Harris Lieberman, New York
Ancient&Modern, London
Galerie Ben Kaufmann, Berlin
Oh my Goodness – Blanket Gallery, Vancouver
Rowley Kennerk Gallery, Chicago
Galerie Ben Kaufmann, Berlin
Galerie Ben Kaufmann, Munich
Galerie Patrick Waldburger, Berlin
Selected Group Shows
2023
Freud Me (with Inka ter Haar) – Waldburger Wouters, Brussels
Ungekämmte Bilder. Kunst ab 1960 aus der Sammlung Herzog Franz von Bayern – Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
2021
Cubiculum offers shelter for some superdealers (curated by Matthias Dornfed) – Cubiculum, Berlin
Salon d'O – Waldburger Wouters, Thermae Palace Hotel, Ostend
Charme Brut – Waldburger Wouters, Brussels
Ein Museum auf Probe – Esslinger Kunstverein, Esslingen
2020
Nine To Know, curated by Jenny Brosinski – Ruttowski;68, Paris
Your Mask (Part III: Don’t Forget Your Mask) – Jahn und Jahn, Munich
2019
Out For A Stroll – Soy Capitán, Berlin
2018
40+10+1 – Jahn und Jahn, München
Cocktails and Horses – Gerhard Hofland, Amsterdam
Old Guys / New Stuff – Susanne Neuerburg, Hennef
Faces – a co-production between PAK, (platform voor actuele kunsten) and Museum Dr. Guilain, Bruges, Belgium
2017
Admist – China Art Objects Galleries, Los Angeles
Berlin, Berlin – Kosmetiksalon Babette, Berlin
2016
Still – Produzentengalerie, Hamburg
Künstler der Galerie – Bildnis und Figur, Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich
2015
animal friends – rstr4, Munich
German Promises – Amsterdam
Last Exit Painting / Die dritte Hand – Salon Dahlmann, Berlin
Gastspiel – Schönewald Fine Arts, Düsseldorf
Mai im Januar – SCHAU FENSTER by JAN KAGE, Berlin
2014
Suite 16.4 – Lindner Hotel & Residence Main Plaza, Frankfurt a. M.
Paintings Sweet Paintings (with Billy Childish) – NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen
A Poem for Raoul and Agnes (selected by Sherman Sam) – Ancient Modern, London
2013
UND ES GEHT – Katharina Daxenberger, Munich
Imaginäre Lösungen. In diesem Sinne1 – Munikat, Munich
Tra di noi – Caffe e CioccoLata, Berlin
Imaginäre Lösungen. In diesem Sinne1 – Kosmetiksalon Babette, Berlin
Why Painting Now? – Krobath, Vienna
Psycosexual: an exploration of the abstracted gesture – Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago
The Art Of Escaping By A Hairsbreadth – Soy capitàn, Berlin
Die Alte Sau Seele – The Wand, Berlin
2012
Groupshow – Galerie Jahn Baaderstrasse, Munich
60,70,88 – Galerie Pohl, Munich
ICONS – Raum 58, Munich
Namalovala – Kunsthaus, Hamburg
Feierabend – HP Zimmer Reception, Berlin
2011
Monotonie – Melancholie, Berlin
Viele Köpfe – Produzentengalerie, Hamburg
abc Artfair, Berlin
Herbei ein Licht! – Lismore Castle Arts: St Carthage HAll, Lismore
Monumental Privacy – Galerie Royal, Munich
Dorothea Ancient&Modern, London
the Cannibal’s Muse II – Autocenter, Berlin
CAPTAIN PAMPHILE – Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg
PSYCHOLOGIE & ABSRAKTION – Ballhaus Ost , Berlin
2010
CROTLA PRESENTS VOL.II, Munich
CAPTAIN PAMPHILE – Städtische Galerie, Waldkraiburg
Brand New You’re – Galerie Andreas Huber, Vienna
Moraltarantula 4 – Elektrohaus, Hamburg
Abschüssige Heiterkeit – Jacky Strenz Galerie, Frankfurt a. M.
TRANSZENDENZ INC. – Autocenter, Berlin
Paranoia – Cacaofabriek, Helmond
Ghosting the cities Vol. 2 – Instituttanzschule, Vienna
2009
Footloose – Galerie Waldburger, Brussels
Am Anfang war das Ende – Ballhaus Ost, Berlin
Festival Chabarovsk, Chabarovsk
Implikation des Portraits – Galerie Ben Kaufmann, Berlin
Galerie Francoise Heitsch, Munich
Underclass Atavism – Galleria Gentili, Prato
2008—2002
Meisterwerke des 21. Jahrhunderts – Galerie Ben Kaufmann, Berlin
Galeria Casado Santapau, Madrid
5000 Jahre Malerei – Villa Merkel, Esslingen
Kommando Giotto di Bondone – Gió Marconi, Milan
Painted Objects – Harris Lieberman, New York
La Bomba IV – Rowley Kennerk Gallery, Chicago
La Boum III – Warsaw
Rental Shows – Trudi Rental-Gallery, New York
