Matthias Dornfeld
02 Oct - 15 Nov 2008
MATTHIAS DORNFELD
Ancient & Modern presents a selection of new paintings by Berlin-based painter Matthias Dornfeld in what will be his first exhibition in Britain. Matthias Dornfeld’s paintings have a seemingly uninhibited approach to gesture and colour. Yet neither naive nor intuitive, they are carefully orchestrated. His subjects conciously verge on cliché, incorporating still-lifes of flowers, landscapes, portraits, ships and vases. The saturated colour of Dornfeld’s paintings is held in the shapes and spaces created through the interlacing of drawing in paint. They hold a balance between the compulsive urge for free expression and a self-contained search for the subject that lies beneath the surface of the canvas. His approach varys only in scale – from drawings that sit in the hand to expansive dioramas spanning walls.Born in Esslingen, Germany (1960), Matthias Dornfeld now lives and works in Berlin, having studied at the Kunstacademie Munich (1994 – 2000). Recent exhibitions include solo shows at Galerie Ben Kaufmann, Berlin; Blanket Gallery, Vancouver (both 2008) and Rowley Kennerk Gallery, Chicago (2007). Recent group shows include ‘5000 Jahre Malerei’, Villa Merkl, Esslingen and ‘Kommando Giotto di Bondone’, Gió Marconi, Milan (both 2008); ‘Painted Objects’, Harris Lieberman, New York; ‘Blenke, Dornfeld, Groener’, Forever and a day BUERO, Berlin (all 2007); ‘Abstraktion und Überleben’, Kunstbunker Nürnberg; and ‘La Boum II’, Sies + Höke Galerie, Düsseldorf (both 2006).
Ancient & Modern presents a selection of new paintings by Berlin-based painter Matthias Dornfeld in what will be his first exhibition in Britain. Matthias Dornfeld’s paintings have a seemingly uninhibited approach to gesture and colour. Yet neither naive nor intuitive, they are carefully orchestrated. His subjects conciously verge on cliché, incorporating still-lifes of flowers, landscapes, portraits, ships and vases. The saturated colour of Dornfeld’s paintings is held in the shapes and spaces created through the interlacing of drawing in paint. They hold a balance between the compulsive urge for free expression and a self-contained search for the subject that lies beneath the surface of the canvas. His approach varys only in scale – from drawings that sit in the hand to expansive dioramas spanning walls.Born in Esslingen, Germany (1960), Matthias Dornfeld now lives and works in Berlin, having studied at the Kunstacademie Munich (1994 – 2000). Recent exhibitions include solo shows at Galerie Ben Kaufmann, Berlin; Blanket Gallery, Vancouver (both 2008) and Rowley Kennerk Gallery, Chicago (2007). Recent group shows include ‘5000 Jahre Malerei’, Villa Merkl, Esslingen and ‘Kommando Giotto di Bondone’, Gió Marconi, Milan (both 2008); ‘Painted Objects’, Harris Lieberman, New York; ‘Blenke, Dornfeld, Groener’, Forever and a day BUERO, Berlin (all 2007); ‘Abstraktion und Überleben’, Kunstbunker Nürnberg; and ‘La Boum II’, Sies + Höke Galerie, Düsseldorf (both 2006).