The Embracing Space

Who doesn’t love the classic story of an outsider, an unassuming competitor who wins the big game and reaches the summit? Not that all art is a competition, or that Matthias Weischer is an outsider, but I assume few people were betting on a young student painting living rooms at the start of the 21st century who goes on to become one of the most recognized names in the world of figurative painting. Or, that his very close group of friends from the academy would end up forming one of the most admired groups of artists at the turn of the century—the New Leipzig School.
Using a humble, universal setting, and an interior corner, Weischer explores light, form, color, and texture, driven by a borderline obsession with space. More precisely, he is obsessed with the magic of painting and the ability to utilize rudimentary tools within two dimensions while manipulating space into an illusion that appears wide, embracing the relationship between pictorial and technical aspects of the work. Just as his seemingly simple compositions captivate and enchant, it was equally pleasurable to listen to the master painter/builder openly share stories, thoughts, beliefs, and aspirations at his home studio in Leipzig’s iconic Spinnerei.
Sasha Bogojev: Let’s sbegin with how and when you developed this interest in creating spaces on the canvas.
Matthias Weischer: I think it started nearly twenty years ago. I was first doing this living room thing, which was kind of inspired by the real existing ones I knew from my childhood, not really from the house where I grew up, but more from friends’ houses. I traveled back there twenty years ago and made photos, so I think that was a kind of starting point.
It sounds like it was an emotional tug, a connection to childhood.
Yeah, I think it was very emotional. I did like to catch an atmosphere that was not very pleasant, a spooky one. It was a bit crazy, like traveling back to my youth. But yeah, this was a kind of starting point, and then somehow I haven’t lost interest in it in these last twenty years.
But the idea of capturing the spookiness, I have a feeling that completely evolved.
Yeah, that changed absolutely, and that’s the point. I don’t see these old works very often, but when I last saw them recently in the Drents Museum, there were some very old ones that I hadn’t seen for twenty years, so when I saw them again, it was really like having this kind of atmosphere and emotion back. That was interesting and quite enjoyable also because it was as if I was traveling back in time.
So that means you achieved what you were trying to capture at the time!
Yeah, but it’s not only about going back into spooky times, it’s also about good memories, so creating these things was really enjoyable. I had really good times in the studio back then, and very intense times. I don’t know about other artists, but I do think, as an artist, you don’t have so many moments of real excitement in the studio; still, these times really felt that way, an early time when you might develop something which you feel might stay with you for the rest of your life. This can be quite thrilling. And now, of course, everybody is kind of used to my interiors and it’s not very new...
Do you feel some of that excitement with the iPad drawings?
Yes, it was a bit similar. I got really excited about them because I saw the possibilities I could achieve with that method.
How did that transfer look for you? And what are the elements that excite you?
For me, it’s the approach that is a different one than with painting. I can really sit in front of my object and in front of the motive, and I can really draw from life. I can also work in a very painterly manner and I can also put things together as I do on the canvas. But with the iPad, I can really easily do it without moving so much material. It’s more playful, in a way, because you’re not wasting material. In a way, it’s very efficient.
I wonder if that would feel the same when you started painting.
No, but it’s not because of laziness, not because I’m afraid of getting dirty hands or something. I still love going to the studio, and for me, painting on canvas is the ultimate thing. But this is an additional tool that I really enjoy. What’s interesting for me is that I can’t rely on the real materials and I can’t rely on all the textures which are sometimes very tasty and yummy. So I benefit in a different way from the iPad. And I can feel that what I do on the iPad is always in relation to the painting. Because the ultimate thing is the painting.
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What aspects of traditional painting are most alluring for you?
There is something that makes you appreciate the real deal after you paint for a long time only on the iPad. When you go back to the studio and you see what is happening there it’s like there are more aspects. It’s much richer in a way, so more of an adventure. You cannot predict so much of what is happening on the canvas, so you enjoy more surprises, I think. And of course, you are standing in line with a long tradition, so you want to do something on a canvas, something people have done since the beginning of history. It’s interesting and gratifying that oil painting is alive and well and that people still find enjoyment in it.
I think people will always do it because this is made by hand and you are leaving marks on the canvas. It’s really magic done with a very primitive little stick with some hairs on top. And as you can also see in my twin paintings, you can control it only to a certain degree. It’s always in a very unstable situation in which, nonetheless, everything is possible.
Do you see your work fitting in the traditional, historic art canon and how do you feel in comparison? What types of work do you look at for inspiration?
I think I’m quite consciously used to standing in line with artists who worked before. But yeah, of course, I’m looking at very early Renaissance and Gothic paintings, which possess a very clear architecture, the type of work where the central pers...