MATTHIAS ZINN – K ö p f e [Heads]

Mai 36 Galerie is delighted to present an exhibition of new works from the series K ö p f e [Heads] by Matthias Zinn. Following on from 2009 and 2011, this is the third solo exhibition by this artist at Mai 36 Galerie.

Before turning his attention to the theme of heads, Matthias Zinn (born 1964 in Tegernsee, lives and works in Berlin) focused his art until 2013 on his immediate surroundings, creating so-called object images in which he transposed his perception and analysis of everyday objects such as a table, a lamp or a mirror into the realms of painting, developing, as he did so, new ways of depicting them and exploring their content. Since 2014, the artist has been creating his series Köpfe [Heads], deploying techniques of painting, drawing and sculpture, while reflecting thematically on earlier works. After all, it was through his figures and self- portraits of the period 2010 to 2011 that his interest in heads intensified, prompting him to channel his creativity more specifically into this theme.

Zinn sees the head as a resonator, in which the outside world echoes within the inner one and is re- composed. This view is clearly discernible in his new large-format pictures and sculptures, in which he uses the autonomy of the working process to discover and even reinvent the head. Although the works may thematically reference his earlier paintings, they now expand into forms in which the shapes, dynamics, fragmentation and fragility seem to reflect our present world in all its grotesque absurdity.

The exhibition K ö p f e [Heads] at Mai 36 Galerie presents a selection from the new group of works in which painting, sculpture and drawing enter into a dialogue with one another.