Matthias Weischer (b. 1973)

Matthias Weishcher's Packung is an intriguing example of the artist's celebrated fictive interiors that simultaneously draws together an intense emphasis on surface with an acute awareness of geometry. Centring on themes such as three-dimensionality and flatness, illusion and reality Weischer injects the security of the domestic sphere with a palpable sense of the uncanny. In doing so, the artist unveils the nagging uncertainties that dwell beneath the shiny veneer of modern society.

Rich in associative meaning, Packung invites the viewer to immerse themselves in the painting's interpenetrating surfaces. The pastel chequered rug on the floor is reminiscent of Carl Andre's seminal brick works and the swirling decorative details that appear to emerge from the back wall evoke the work of Rudolf Stingel. As Markus Stegmann notes, 'The interiors are theatre sets. Matthias Weischer provides the props, then rearranges and embellishes them, revealing both surprising contrasts and new formal interconnections. The visual spaces are shunting yards of the past, where the artist gives directions from the signal tower' (M. Stegmann, 'Which Memory is Speaking?' in Matthias Weischer: Malerei /Painting, exh. cat., Museum zu Allerheiligen Schaffhausen, Schaffhausen, 2007, p. 17).