MATTHIAS WILD | VERTIGO der Blicke Fleck | Bilder und Zeichnungen

Exhibition opening Tuesday, January 28, 2014, at 8:00 PM with Andreas Schalhorn, Kupferstichkabinett Berlin, and Kathleen Krenzlin, Galerie Parterre Berlin

Mathias Wild was born in 1946 in Glarus, Switzerland, and has been living in Berlin for over three decades. Large-format paintings are juxtaposed with smaller works and drawings, while abstract painting alternates with images that reference figurative landscapes. His works are part of private and public collections, including the Basler Kunstkredit, Kunsthaus Glarus, Berlinische Galerie, and the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin. Since 1973, he has had numerous solo exhibitions and has participated in many group exhibitions both nationally and internationally.

“A predictable painting style, one that has solidified into a manner, is not Wild's approach. While he creates his own distinctive language through his way of thinking about and developing painting and image, he resists any routine. As a result, his works remain refreshingly challenging and come alive in reception due to their playful unpredictability.

The term Vertigo, chosen by Wild as the title and motto for the exhibition and accompanying publication, applies in multiple ways. On one hand, it reflects the feeling that arises when surveying the exhibited works or those compiled in this gallery's workbook. On the other hand, it relates to the direct experience of each individual piece as a complex, contradictory entity that can sometimes be split into various internal segments, spaces, and levels. Anyone who naively believes they can navigate from one image to the next, seeking to quickly make sense of everything according to certain formal or thematic regularities, constants, or motifs, will be disabused of that notion. Wild's 'image work' follows no pre-established plan but rather upends systematic approaches.”
Dr. Andreas Schalhorn, 2013

Image: Mathias Wild, o.T. 2013, pencil and colored pencil, watercolor, ink, chalk, 21 x 29.7 cm