Matthias Groebel, Piéta, 2001, acrylic on canvas, four parts, 160 x 430 cm / 63 x 169,3 in. Private collection
Satellites Cast No Shadow
Among all the painters who have abandoned their brushes, Matthias Groebel occupies a special position. Upon the introduction of satellite television, Groebel began trawling the frequencies of obscure channels, compiling and composing images from their transmissions that he then transferred onto canvas using a homemade device. His oeuvre falls somewhere between the history of painting, cyberpunk, and the flickerings of the cathode ray tube. Read more
(Moritz Scheper for Mousse Magazine, 2022)
Matthias Groebel, Satellites Cast No Shadow, Drei, Cologne, 2022
Photos: Simon Vogel; Courtesy the artist and Drei, Cologne
Matthias Groebel, L0795, 1995, Acrylic on canvas, four parts, 175 x 200 cm / 68,9 x 78,7 in. Courtesy the artist and Drei, Cologne
Matthias Groebel, Untitled, 1995
Acrylic on canvas
95 x 95 cm / 37,4 x 37,4 in
Private collection
Matthias Groebel, Untitled, 2001
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 100 cm / 39,4 x 39,4 in
Private collection
Matthias Groebel, Untitled, 1994
Acrylic on canvas
Four parts, each 95 x 95 cm / 37,4 x 37,4 in
Private collection
Cologne in 1990. Over a decade of painting’s temperamental, triumphant and facetious return has resulted in what, with reference to the work of Martin Kippenberger, has been called the “post-studio practice”. This means that paintings achieve their true value and significance only after they leave the studio and emulsify with the artist’s persona as it is performed in the “art scene”, a particular network of people and locations which (mal-)functions by the Domino-logic of if you know, you know. The problem with that, of course, is that over time you forget what exactly it is you know and how you know it. What is a painting, really, and what does it do? It was in this context, where the material reality of the painting was all but overwhelmed by the subjectivity of the artist, that Matthias Groebel stopped painting, and built a machine, which would remove from the canvas, once and for all, the human touch. Read more
(Kristian Vistrup Madsen, 2022)
Matthias Groebel, Avid Signals (Broadcast Material 1989-2001), Galerie Bernhard, Zurich, 2021. Photos: Cedric Mussano; Courtesy the artist and Galerie Bernhard, Zurich
Matthias Groebel, Untitled, 1994
Acrylic on canvas
95 x 95 cm / 37,4 x 37,4 cm
Courtesy the artist and Drei, Cologne
Matthias Groebel, Avid Signals (Broadcast Material 1989-2001), Galerie Bernhard, Zurich, 2021. Photo: Cedric Mussano; Courtesy the artist and Galerie Bernhard, Zurich
Matthias Groebel, Hacked Channels, 2000
Acrylic on canvas
115 x 100 cm / 45,3 x 39,4 in
Courtesy the artist and Drei, Cologne
Matthias Groebel, Hacked Channels 4, 2000
Acrylic on canvas
115 x 100 cm / 45,3 x 39,4 in
Courtesy the artist and Drei, Cologne
Matthias Groebel, Trusted Faces, 1995/2022, single channel video, color, 00:02:41. Courtesy the artist and Drei, Cologne
Matthias Groebel (b. 1958, Aachen, Germany) lives and works in Cologne.
Recent solo exhibitions include The Rhythms of Reception, Schiefe Zähne, Berlin; Satellites Cast No Shadow (curated by Andreas Selg), Drei, Cologne (both 2022); and Avid Signals (Broadcast Material 1989 - 2001) (curated by Andreas Selg), Galerie Bernhard, Zurich (2021).
His work furthermore had been included in exhibitions such as The Wig, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn; Mit Parallelität von Widersprüchen wird Komplexes missverständlicher (conceived by Elisa R. Linn, Sophie Reinhold and Ariane Müller), Schiefe Zähne, Berlin (both 2022); Explained away, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz (2019); Tele-Gen, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz (2016) and Kunstmuseum, Bonn (2015).
Matthias Groebel's first institutional solo exhibition will open in December 2022 at the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Dusseldorf, curated by Kathrin Bentele and Andreas Selg. The exhibition will coincide with the release of the first comprehensive monograph “Matthias Groebel - The Image-Sweep” (Edition Patrick Frey, Zurich).