Matthias Brandes: the landscape as mental vision
Discover the pictorial universe of Matthias Brandes, an artist who constructs stony and silent landscapes, where houses, trees, sea, and sky seem carved from the same compact, granite-like material. His works appear as worlds sculpted with a chisel, solid and motionless, permeated by a suspended sense of time.
At first glance, the compositions convey a feeling of peace and order, thanks to rigorous and reassuring geometries. Yet, gradually, a subtle unease emerges: deep and impenetrable shadows, blind windows, doors too narrow to be crossed, trees with foliage so dense they seem impervious to wind, and uniform skies—almost like lids sealing the atmosphere.
The art of Matthias Brandes
Brandes’ world is an “other” dimension, imbued with a strong metaphysical character. His paintings are infused with references to the great Italian and European pictorial tradition: Giottesque reminiscences in the full and swelling volumes, Sironi-like echoes in the dark urban perspectives, and Morandian suggestions in the solemn stillness of objects.
The pictorial material thus becomes the vehicle of an inner vision, where the landscape is never merely descriptive but mental—a place of silence and contemplation, charged with a restrained emotional tension.
Who is Matthias Brandes
Born in Bochum in 1950, Matthias Brandes studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and at the University of Hamburg. Since 1985, he has regularly exhibited in solo and group shows, participating in the most important contemporary art fairs.
His works are included in numerous public and private collections. In 2012, on the occasion of the Olympic Games, OFA – Olympic Fine Arts in Beijing acquired one of his works, exhibiting it at the Creative Cities Collection Fine Arts Exhibition in London.
Attualmente vive e lavora a Meolo (Venezia).
