Biography

Jakob Mattner, who studied at the State University of Fine Arts Berlin (1967 – 1972) and was supported by grants and awards in Italy and France (Villa Serpentara in Olevano, DAAD in Rome, Villa Romana in Florence, Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris), has been creating graphic, painterly and sculptural work in the transitions between light and dark.

The iconicity of Malevich or the light dynamics of Moholoy-Nagy, the post-revolutionary constructivism, the Chiaroscuro from Caravaggio to the simple means of Arte Povera have influenced him. In his art Jakob Mattner has created a singular freedom of a continued avant-garde. Pontus Hultén wrote about his work that it was shaped by the mystery of perspective, researched and enhanced by the means of light.

In “Blick zur Sonne” he cooperated with astrophysicists from the Einstein Tower in Potsdam and displayed the overlapping of art and research in several exhibitions. He has been creating light stages as echo spaces for readings for the Berlin International Literature Festival since 2001. Jakob Mattner’s work has been exhibited in museums, biennials and galleries in Europe, Russia, the USA and South America. The artist lives in Berlin.

Works

Documents

Publications

1967-72 studied sculpting at the University of the Arts Berlin

Grants and awards

2019

Art Award of the Kunststiftung Folker Skulima

2012/13

Villa Concordia, Bamberg / Stipendium Bayerisches Staatsministerium

2012

project grant of the Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn

2004/06

project grant of the Bundeskulturstiftung and BMBF

1994

art award from the Heitland-Foundation, Celle

1981

artist grant from the Kunstfonds Bonn

1977

Villa Romana Preis, Florenz

1974/75

grant from the Federal Ministery of the Interior

Cité des Arts, Paris

1973/74

DAAD grant for Rome

1972

Grant from the Akademie der Künste Berlin

Villa Serpentara, Olevano

Solo exhibitions (selection)

2023

Deep Time – Der ferne Klang, Stiftung St. Matthaeus, Berlin

2019

Jakob Mattner. Galerie Grisebach, Berlin (on the occasion of the awarding of the Folker Skulima Art Foundation Prize)

Jakob Mattner. Echo. Galerie Miro, Prague

2021

Jakob Mattner. Second Planet, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin

2018

Jakob Mattner. Membran, Centre of Contemporary Art, Toruń/Poland

2016

Vice Versa – Jakob Mattner, Kunstraum Kesselhaus, Bamberg

Jakob Mattner. Polyphon, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin

2015

Schwarzlicht, Setareh Gallery, Düsseldorf

Spiegelungen, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Chemnitz

2014

Galerie Haas AG, Zürich

2013

Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin / Berliner Festspiele

2012

Jakob Mattner, Villa Wessel, Iserlohn

Mattner’s 70s works, Galerie 401contemporary, Berlin

2011

Museum Weserburg / Landesvertretung Bremen in Berlin

Back to the future. Galerie 401contemporary / Artissima Turin

Black Space, Galeria Alejandro Sales, Barcelona

2010

Percussion, 401contemporary, London

2009

Ohne Mimesis, Stiftung Schloss Neuhardenberg

2007

Engelsflügel, Bistum Bamberg, Szcecin

2006/07

Der Blick in die Sonne, Museum der Moderne Salzburg

2006

Der Blick in die Sonne, Museum Weserburg, Bremen

2005

Der Blick in die Sonne, Museum Wiesbaden

2004

Percussion, Luckenwalde

2001

Momentaufnahmen, Akademie der Künste, Berlin

Camera Lucida, Moritzburg Halle

1998

Galerie Farideh Cadot, New York

1996

Der blinde Fleck, Hebbeltheater, Berlin

1992

Galerie Alejandro Sales; Barcelona

1989

Galerie Eric Franck, Geneva

Galerie Pervaja, Moscow

1988

Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover

Galerie Farideh Cadot, Paris

1987

Nationalgalerie Grundkreditbank, Berlin

1985

Zwielicht, Galerie Eric Franck, Geneva

Zwielicht, Galerie Carpenter & Hochmann, New York

1983

Zwielicht, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin

1980

DAAD-Galerie, Berlin

Zwielicht, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster

1977

Stanza Notturna, Palazzo Pitti, Florence

Group exhibitions (selection)

2023

Black, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin

Köpfe maskiert, verwandelt, Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg

2021

Perspektivwechsel. St. Annen Museum, Lübeck

2019

Negative Space – der negative Raum. Zentrum für Kunst und Medien ZKM, Karlsruhe

2018

PAINTING still ALIVE… On the way to modernity, Centre of Contemporary Art, Toruń/Poland

2015

Imago Mundi. Luciano Benetton Collection. Mappa dell’arte nuova, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice

2014

On what there might not be / Acerca de lo que podría no ser, Marso, Mexico City

2013

Scheinwerfer – Lichtkunst In Deutschland Im 21. Jahrhundert / Teil 1, Kunstmuseum Celle, Celle

Landschaft nach 2000, Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, Osnabrück

Resonanzen, Mary Bauermeister, Jakob Mattner, Galerie 401contemporary Berlin

Camera Lucida. Lichtrouten, Biennale Lüdenscheid

Circles | Kreise, Stadt Bamberg, Bamberger Kunstverein, Alexander Ochs, Berlin (K)

2012

Art Brussels, 30th contemporary Art Fair, Galerie 401contemporary Berlin

Art Cologne 2012, Galerie Haas AG, Zürich

Volta 8 Basel, Galerie 401contemporary Berlin

2010

…et de lumière, 401contemporary, Berlin

2009

ZEROplus, 401contemporary, Berlin

Linie, 401contemporary, Berlin

Notation, ZKM, Karlsruhe

Spotlight, Museum der Moderne Salzburg

2008

Notation, Akademie der Künste, Berlin

Notabene, Villa Oppenheim, Berlin

2004

Percussion, Luckenwalde, Berlin

2003

Ulysses Award, Lettre International, Berlin

2002

Paarungen, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin

vice – versa, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin

Ground Zero, Haus am Lützowplatz; Berlin

2000

Lied:Strahl, Deutscher Pavillon, EXPO, Hannover

1999

Zwielicht – Neue Medien, Hamburger Bahnhof

1996

Marianne: Germania, Hebbeltheater, Berlin

Eric Satie (with Alan Marks), Hebbeltheater, Berlin

1995

Percussion, Site, Santa Fe

1992

Galerie Franck & Schulte, Berlin

1990

Ambiente Berlin / Biennale Venice

1986

Androgyn, Akademie der Künste, Berlin

1985

Promenades, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva

1983

Zwielicht, Neue Galerie / Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen

1981

Schwarz, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Berlin

1980

Totes Licht, Kunstforum Lenbachhaus, Munich

1972

Welt aus Sprache, Akademie der Künste, Berlin

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