Mateusz von Motz b. 1985

Mirroring his broad academic training in various forms of art, Mateusz von Motz is expressing himself across media. His style can be described formally free and open, and, as he characterizes himself, with a talent for brutal beauty. In his practice von Motz enjoys to hybridize diverse materials, aesthetics and techniques. Most recently he favored concrete, mirrors and spray paint for the creation of artworks which responded on a wider cultural urge of (self)expression, recognition and identity as we experienced it collectively during recent global lockdowns. Contemporary pop and electronic culture as well as architecture, digitalization, and (auto)biographical events / personal experience are recurring themes in von Motz' artistic practice. His style ranges from eccentrically beautiful to enthralling and, even, alarming with the use of strong colors, coarse materiality, and harsh to nightmarish themes. 

 Mateusz von Motz graduated with a postgraduate degree from the class of photography by Jürgen Teller and holds a  MFA degree with a main focus  in sculpture from the Royal College of Art in London. Through various presentation since his graduation, von Motz received recognition for his practice which brought together architectural and photographic elements. Recurring themes until today are  memories/biography, space and deconstruction. In his latest work, a hotel located at the Baltic coast of Poland, in which he grew up and which he inherited from his father, plays a key role in aesthetics and narration. The hotel appears here as both utopian and a heterotopian place, to speak with Michel Foucault. For von Motz it is a place of belonging, a project space, and a vast archive of spiritual exploration. 

 

Since 2010 the work by von Motz is widely shown in solo and group shows such as in London, Marseille, Edinburgh, Milan, Skopje, Tokyo, and New York. In 2018/19 Mateusz von Motz collaborated with the COS stores, who presented a solo show of his works in their Coal Drop Yard, King Gross Store in London.