The paintings of Matthias Dornfeld are based on his longtime interest in conventional themes, such as portraiture, landscape and still life. Within his interest in particular painting discourses, he not only operates in the tradition of classical pictorial genres, but also generates a visual aesthetic characteristic of earlier approaches to naïve expressive painting. Dornfeld’s work ultimately demonstrate that they are more acutely situated in the inventive painting strategies of analytical abstraction.

He explains: “The subjects and motives are simple, they come without thinking. They’re stupid, banal, commonplace, clichés.” It is through the repetitive use of the familiar, even boring—both in process and in subject matter—that Dornfeld subverts these painterly tropes and, in turn, makes them strange, makes them funny. (courtesy of Mousse Publishing)

The work of Matthias Dornfeld is shown internationally, including at Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen; Helsinki Contemporary, Helsinki; Salon Dahlmann, Berlin; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Deichtorhallen & Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg.