While the natural world plays a profound role in Matthias Meyer’s work, he maintains a delicate balance between realism and abstraction in his depiction. Within this world, water is the subject of investigation – lakes, ponds, waterfalls, and often the plant life contained within. Both mysterious and revealing, the water’s surface reflects its surroundings while offering a glimpse into a realm below. Enigmatic, distorted images of decomposing tree trunks emerge from the depths, while reeds, water lilies, and grasses flourish above. These organic forms converge into a dynamic ecosystem, nature’s cycle of life, death, and regeneration. Matthias Meyer does not aim to literally depict these elements, but to transform them by weaving images into rich, magical, dreamlike environments filled with the perception of water, light, and color.
Matthias Meyer was born in 1969 in Göttingen, Germany. He studied art at the Düsseldorf Art Academy with Gerhard Richter and was named a “Meisterschüler” (master student) in Richter’s last master class in 1994. Matthias Meyer was also a guest student at London’s Chelsea College of Art in 1994 and received the prestigious Max Ernst Prize from the city of Brühl in the same year. In 1995 he was the German winner of the European Art Competition of the Swiss Bank Corporation in London. Matthias Meyer now lives and works in Germany.
1969
Born in Göttingen
1991 – 1994
Studies with Prof. Gerhard Richter, Duesseldorf Art Academy
1994
Master student or “student of honor” (Meisterschüler) of Gerhard Richter, Duesseldorf Art Academy
1994
Guest student Chelsea College of Art, London
1994 – 1995
Studies with Prof. Dieter Krieg,
Düsseldorf Art Academy.
Soloshows since 2010:
2021
Ponds and Blossoms, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT, USA
2020
Atropa
Galerie Andreas Binder, München
2019
Silent Water
Danese Corey, New York
2018
Arcadia
Galerie Andreas Binder, München
Spring
Danese Corey, New York
New Paintings
Roger Katwijk, Amsterdam
Tiefe Wasser
Rosenhang Museum, Weilburg
2017
Matthias Meyer. Gläserner Tag
Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr (Kat.)
Pouring Oil on Troubled Waters
Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Frankfurt
2016
Fensterbilder
Galerie Andreas Binder, München
A Distant River
Danese Corey, New York (Kat.)
2015
Drawings
Caso, Osaka, Japan
New Drawings / Horizontal Paintings
Kyoto Galerie Weissraum, Japan
2014
Insomnia
Kunstverein Leverkusen, Schloss Morsbroich (Kat.)
In der Ferne so nah
Galerie Andreas Binder, München
Matthias Meyer
Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Frankfurt
2013
Wetland
Danese, New York
2012
Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Frankfurt
Vom tatsächlich Sichtbaren
Galerie Andreas Binder, München (Kat.)
2011
Vom tatsächlich Sichtbaren
Kunstverein Duisburg (Kat.)
2010
Into the Deep
Galerie Andreas Binder, München (Kat.)
Collections:
Akzo Nobel, Arnhem
Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt / Main
Dresdner Bank, Munich
Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation, Jersey City NJ
Hypo Bank, Munich
Museum of Art Mülheim an der Ruhr, Mülheim / Ruhr
Collection Alison & Peter W. Klein, Eberdingen-Nussdorf
Kerber Collection, Bielefeld
Sal. Oppenheim Collection, Frankfurt / Main
Collection SØR Rusche, Oelde / Berlin
Swiss Bank Corporation, London
Willy Brandt House, Berlin
WWK, Munich
Prices:
2015
Working scholarship of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung EHF 2010
1995
SBC European Art Competition, Prizewinner Germany / Prizewinner Germany
1994
Max Ernst Scholarship