Wolfgang Stiller at Miart Gallery London

About

Born in 1961 in Wiesbaden, Wolfgang Stiller has been working as an artist for almost 40 years and has travelled across numerous countries including the USA, China, Japan, Turkey, Brazil, Italy, Germany and  Taiwan. Gaining experience and exposure to different cultures is very important to Stiller, and is what allowed him to develop his unique oeuvre.

After completing his education at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf Fine Art Academy, he received multiple awards and has been in more than 140 solo and group exhibitions. His artworks are presented in the international museum collections in Wuhan Museum of Fine Art (China); Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern (Germany); Museum K.E. Osthaus Museum, Hagen (Germany); Public collection of Land Hessen (Germany); Museum Bochum (Germany).

He faced the fall of the Berlin Wall and the height of popular culture. The artist is addressing a strong social commentary through the subject matters he chooses; however, this seriousness is always balanced out with playful undertones.

Matchstickman is arguably the most recognisable series of sculptures in Wolfgang’s artistic practice. Since he started the series of Matchstickman, his interest in bronze as main material and the human head without body as principal subject increased steadily. As the artist said: “The human head by itself is a very fascinating subject. I always used art as a different language to reflect upon things I was interested in. I guess that was and still is the most fascinating part for me.”.

Many people believe that the burnt matchstick heads represent the “Burnout Syndrome”, a condition which occurs after prolonged occupation stress, which is characterised by depersonalisation, exhaustion, and reduced belief in one’s professional abilities. However, the artist prefers to leave their meaning open ended, as he strongly believes that art should leave room for one’s own thinking and imagination.