Matthias Dornfeld
Karussell

06. - 29.05.2016

Helsinki Contemporary is proud to present the German artist Matthias Dornfeld (b. 1960) in his first solo exhibition in Finland, on May 6–29. Dornfeld is known for extending and innovating in the tradition of expressive painting. Life’s knocks and everyday mishaps are shown in his coarsely beautiful portraits and still lifes, seasoned with dark humour.

The clichéd, iconic motifs in Dornfeld’s art resonate with the history of painting: portraits, flower arrangements and sunsets. The trivial, even pathetic, subjects put the spotlight on the act of painting itself. Dornfeld seeks to free his pictures of symbolism and of figures with given content. The artist is on the lookout for a new intensity, which is as refreshing and fearless as child's play.

“The painting is moving. It is within this movement that its contents materialize, when a flower turns out to be a grenade, or vice versa. I try to break away from the starting position – to extend the limits and limitations, kind of trying out all the possibilities to their absurd conclusions,” Dornfeld says.

Breaking with conventional expectations and assumptions is central to the artist, who challenges himself to enter uncharted territories in his attempts to achieve an unconscious, even meditative working method: “It is a continual push and pull between constructive and destructive elements. There is no a priori solution, and there are no guarantees. It is a kind of painter’s heaven and hell.”

Matthias Dornfeld lives and works in Berlin. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, where he was later a guest professor. He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the US, Canada and Europe. Recent exhibitions include: Bruce Haines Mayfair Gallery, London, UK (2016), NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen, Germany (2014); Galerie Waldburger Wouters, Brussels (2014); and Soy Capitàn, Berlin (2013).