MATTHIAS FRANZ

Lives and works in Leipzig (DE)

Directly confronting the complexity of contemporary existence, Matthias Franz approaches the medium of painting as a venture in witnessing and recording his time. In his paintings, muted earth tones are contrasted with shadowy outlines and full primary hues that comprise invented architectural spaces or uncanny perspectives. The pulling and pushing tension within his brushstrokes captures the sensation of heavy, enlarged forms giving way to more delicate arrangements, infused with the imbalanced weight and proportions one would find in a dream. Throughout, the motif of collective longing is projected into a broader social context, as are suggestions of detachment, inaction, and rebelliousness.

Inspired by literature, cinema and critical theory, Franz uses paint to visualise an interior notion or question, first realising the composition on smaller canvases before tackling the subject at a large scale. Building up his images over several weeks through layered oil paint, each scene has a palpable weight, lending the textured environments a charged, psychological atmosphere.

Matthias Franz graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (AT) in 2019, where he was a student of Daniel Richter. The artist’s solo exhibition claim no easy victories, presented in conjunction with London Gallery Weekend, is on view at GRIMM, London (UK) from June 5 – July 19, 2025.

Selected exhibitions: die dünne Haut der Zivilisation, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); claim no easy victories, GRIMM, London (UK); Sensory Dialogue, with Daniel Richter, Yi Space, Hangzhou (CN); Birds Sing the Echoes of Fragmentation, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL); The Moon and I, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); AIR 2020 / 2021, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna (AT); Salon des Nutzlosen, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); and Condition Humaine, GRIMM, New York, NY (US).

Selected collections: The Rachofsky Collection, Dallas, TX (US); Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Palm Beach, FL (US); De Heus-Zomer Collection, Barneveld (NL); THE EKARD COLLECTION; Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, TX (US); Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); The He Art Museum, Foshan (CN); and the David and Indrė Roberts Collection, London (UK), as well as numerous private collections.

Courtesy GRIMM